Lawyer says CSGO FURIA team’s old contract is ‘worst ever’

A leading esports lawyer has just said the old contract of CSGO team FURIA is one of the worst contracts he has ever seen.

CSGO players Yuri ‘yuurih’ Santos, Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan, Vinicius ‘VINI’ Figueiredo, Kaike ‘KSCERATO’ Cerato and Rinaldo ‘ableJ’ Moda Júnior have just signed a new five-year contract after being with FURIA Esports. over a year ago.

FURIA Esports co-owner André Akkari said the new contract means better advertising deals, memorabilia, etc. for the players. However, following the announcement of the contract extension, Dexerto received a summary of the team’s former contracts from a reliable source. After sending them to esports lawyer Ryan Fairchild, he had to say: “This is a very bad contract. If their new contract is the same, I would feel very sad for them.”

The old contract had a monthly salary of $1,400USD, which is quite low compared to the $200,000 transfer fee.

“The buyout fees are hard to pin down because they have many factors other than salary, but the $200,000 figure compared to the monthly salary, in my opinion, is just too ludicrous and oppressive.”

Fairchild continued, talking about what he could do in court with the contract. “Although I can’t say what decision the court will make, and I haven’t seen the entire contract myself, I feel I can take this case to court easily, especially when the native language of the players is not English and if they do not have a consultant or specialist to work with during contract negotiations.”

He also explained the possible reasons for the players to sign for another 5 years and was concerned about them agreeing to re-sign after such a bad old contract.

“What I want to know is if they have the right to refuse to renew their contracts… .The terms of the right of refusal may reveal why FURIA can continue to sign these players for 5 years. I’m really concerned that the boys don’t understand this.”

However, according to Fairchild, the ratio of bonuses between players and organizations is perhaps the most worrying information. Only 40% of the prize money goes to the players, while the organization takes up to 60%.

“This payout ratio is terrible, if not the worst I have ever seen. I can confirm that. It’s very rare for me to see bonus contracts, especially in Valve games, where players/players/managers often keep up to 90% of their bonuses.”

While Fairchild was concerned about the old contract, André Akkari explained the benefits of a five-year contract – an unprecedented length of contract in CSGO history.

“There will be no towering transfer fees. It is unchanged compared to the old contract, while the salary and benefits are more…. If a player is substituted, the transfer amount will be much less.”

Akkari said that players are not required to sign such long contracts if they themselves do not want to. “The five-year figure is of course not mandatory. We sat down and talked. It could be 3 years or 2 years, but we, the players and the organization, feel that everyone will lose the opportunities that come from this long term contract.”

According to Dexerto