One item stood out in the news scroll across the bottom of the report:
"Rumors surface regarding potential purchase of Independent Gaming Commission by newly independent Scope Network amid announcements surrounding Fourteenth Alliance Tournament."A very interesting development. The Independent Gaming Commission took over control the Alliance Tournament in YC109 (2007) from the Caldari Gaming Commission. The CGC held the first Alliance Tournament, beginning December 28 YC107. Even at the beginning of the AT, capsuleers wanted to gamble on the event, with Eve University and BIG Corporation operating betting services.
The Caldari Gaming Commission had big plans for the Alliance Tournament, announcing a partnership with Boundless Creation in November YC108. The partnership would organize tournaments every six months for five years. The plans came crashing down soon after the third Alliance Tournament as the CGC became embroiled in a tax evasion investigation as the Mercantile Club turned over footage of CGC officials and their accounts to the Caldari Business Tribunal. The Caldari Gaming Commission was found guilty of evading 3.4 billion ISK in taxes in May YC109 and ordered to pay an additional 1.5 billion ISK in penalties. In July YC109, CGC founder Dabel Kaelikohani announced his organization would no longer sponsor the AT.
At the end of July YC109, Woratome Kikawa, a former top executive with the CGC, announced that his newly-formed Independent Gaming Commission would take over the running of the Alliance Tournament. In his announcement, Kikawa announced the IGC brought resources to the task far greater than those of the CGC:
"I'm happy to announce that the Tournament will continue, but it is not longer strictly tied to one empire. To collect the funding needed for the tournament we now instead have investors from all four. From the Caldari State, we welcome members of the Mercantile Club; from the Minmatar Republic we enjoy the expertise of the Leisure Group; the Gallentean Bank of Luminaire will provide us with financial backing; and the Amarr Certified News will cover all news from the Tournament this year."Over the past nine years, the IGC managed to avoid trouble with the authorities, but the tournament was plagued by irregularities and match fixing. Among the worst blemishes was the collusion between Hydra Reloaded and 0utbreak during AT IX and disqualification of The Camel Empire and Warlords of the Deep from Alliance Tournament XIII. If the rumors are true, fans of the tournament can only hope the Scope will bring greater oversight to one of the greatest annual events in New Eden.
No comments:
Post a Comment