Players for Copenhagen Wolves approached Riot Games about the possibility taking the LCS spot away from the organization last year, the Daily Dot has learned. The revelations follow a rough week for the Danish esports organization Copenhagen Wolves and indicate that the club has been plagued with internal problems for some time.
The drastic move by the players was prompted by what players allege was several months delay in their salary being paid. This included the stipend Riot provides for each LCS team. The problems were compounded by other agreed expenses for the house not being paid back to players in a timely fashion. According to one source, the salary delays proved too much to bear for the players, who had already seen Copenhagen Wolves involved in such issues in the past.
“Everyone on the team was sick of waiting for the money they were owed,” the person, who is close to the players and organisation, said. “It had been months and they went to Riot and asked what could be done about it, saying they wanted the spot for themselves as the organisation wasn’t paying even the Riot money to them.”
At this point, Riot reputedly intervened and warned the organization about its obligation to pay the money Riot provided in a timely fashion. The organization agreed, and the backpay was settled shortly afterwards.
After these problems were supposedly resolved, the players signed an NDA that prevented them from speaking publicly about the matter. As such, none of the Copenhagen Wolves involved in the issue were were willing to comment on this article.
Expenses were also an ongoing issue for the team. “The accounts are handled by [owner Jakob Lund Kristensen’s] girlfriend, and it just seems to take forever to get anything done. One time the internet was switched off in the house because it hadn’t been paid and [coach Karl “Dentist” Krey] had to settle the bill and have the money come out of his personal bank account.”
Another alleged problem is the standard of living in the team house. For over a split the players have tried to get the house furnished and acquire other essentials, such as a washing machine. Yet the organization has been unable to provide these basic requests. This is allegedly due to the organization’s’ slow-moving accounting department.
“The living conditions are pretty bad,” our source said. “There’s no curtains and the windows are big so the light is a constant distraction. There aren’t any couches, just six chairs. The beds are cheap and basic. Worst of all there’s no machine to do the laundry. The players have been asking for this since last split.”
This account was also confirmed by the recently leaked screenshots of a conversation from Karl “Dentist” Krey’s Facebook account, in which he talks about spending money on couches and curtains.
Kristensen, the team owner and founder, responded directly to these allegations in a conversation with the Daily Dot. He said that the Riot investigation at the end of last year found little wrong-doing on the organization’s part.
“The players made a list of claims against the organisation,” he said. “And the only thing they found to have any substance were missing contracts for the players, which we were then punished for. We paid all outstanding salaries as soon as the Riot stipend was with us. After that we took drastic steps to make sure things like that never happened again. ”
He also thought the problems with the team house were exaggerated.
“I have told the coach that all he needs to do is tell me what he wants and where he wants it,” he said. “I even asked if the players wanted more stuff in their rooms to make them feel more like home and they said no. I agreed to buy curtains and then was told they could find something cheaper. I haven’t heard anything about it since. For the laundry there is a washing place five minutes away from the house.”
He added: “There isn’t a single player who has reached out to me directly about these things.”
These new revelations will surely not help the team, who are currently in a free-fall in the league, sitting at the bottom with a 2-8 record, and were the center of intense criticism following the leaks of private conversations. Making things worse, on June 24, Team captain, Joey “Youngbuck” Steltenpool, announced his intent to leave the team at the first available opportunity. Earlier today, support player Petar “Unlimited” Georgiev also announced he would be departing from the team.
Photo via Copenhagen Wolves/Facebook
