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This week's Soapbox was submitted by Jeremy "winrawr" Sperlazza and, like all Soapboxes, it is solely his opinion.

A CGS Farm League

From AAA baseball to college football, all professional sports have some way to develop talented, up and coming players. The CGS and CS:S would benefit from the same type of system designed to help foster the growth and preparation of non-pro players into CGS caliber, salary earning professionals.

INVITE ONLY

The upper echelon of CS:S is a very exclusive club to be a part of. #prosouce is an excellent example of how top players only associate themselves with other known top players. If my team were to message coL asking for a scrim, it’s highly unlikely coL would even reply, let alone accept our offer. The same goes for just about every top source team, which makes it very difficult for teams that are not widely known or established at the top to develop into top ranked teams, even if the team’s talent and dedication are sufficient to go all the way.

Without the ability to practice and compete with the top ranked teams, it is next to impossible for a team to rise to the top. Why is this important? It makes scouting out new and un-established players extremely difficult for upper tier teams and can be a very frustrating ordeal for a skilled, yet unknown player to find a team that corresponds to that player’s level of play. Without practicing against the best, players and teams will never rise to the top and the same people that currently “rule” CS:S will stay in power.

FARM LEAGUE

The CGS currently has most of the top players in source, but there are still a number of individuals capable and skilled enough to hang with the current pros, and there will always be up and coming talent and newcomers capable of playing at the professional level. Many pro baseball players were drafted as high school students and then were put on AAA teams for a few years to allow the players to get used to a higher level of play before actually playing in the MLB. The MLB coaches monitor the players’ progress and if all goes well and the player proves his worth and ability, he is often given a contract and a place on ht MLB team.

My solution in CS:S is for CGS to further their partnership with CEVO and to establish a farm league or AAA league that would not include the CGS teams. This league would run the most of the year and because it excludes the CGS players, it would not take breaks like CEVO-P for the CGS season. It would have a $10,000-20,000 prize pot that would attract all the non-CGS players to compete even if their aspirations do not lie with one day obtaining a CGS contract (while still costing the CGS less than one player’s contract salary).

This would allow all the CGS hopefuls to play with other skilled players (and work for a large prize pot as well), give CGS GM’s a chance to monitor and watch the progress of new players year-round, and would further cement the CGS’s hold on cs:s talent. Players that dominate in this league and really stand out would have the chance to make an impression on CGS GM’s and the source community on a continual basis. It would be a win-win for new players and the CGS alike.

LEAGUE IDEAS

Furthermore, instead of GM’s drafting individuals onto their taxi team, the GM’s could use any player in this league to pull from for his/her source team. To include the CGS teams, this league could run most of the year with 3-4 seasons, and once or twice a year (when CGS does not have their season) could include the CGS teams with an increased pot size. These “special” seasons with the CGS teams would have similar qualifiers to the CEVO-P qualifiers and would be an indicator of how the sub league teams and players rank against the elite of the CGS (similar to how pandemic and devastation showed their worth in CEVO-P).

The league could also host multiple LANs where people could go to meet the CGS players in person and would invite the top sub league teams to come play. This league would be better than the current CEVO-P because it would allow more opportunities for non-CGS teams to grow (with many more matches and seasons per year) and with a CGS backing, a vastly increased pot prize to fuel competition.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This league would solve the “exclusive club” hurdle that keeps many players from reaching the top by giving them the necessary exposure and motivation to reach the highest level of play. The farm league would allow a continuous flow of newcomers to showcase their skills better than any league currently running. All professional sports have new talent every year and eSports should be no different.