As you know, in mid-2024, the Esports community in general and League of Legends in particular will hear about the Esports World Cup for the first time. This is a tournament organized by Esports organizations and federations in Saudi Arabia, with the ambition of spreading Esports coverage to the oil country. T1 has become one of the teams that won the championships at EWC 2024 and has a significant amount of prize money (~ 700k USD, not including surrounding costs). But the benefits don't stop there.

According to the latest announcement, the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) decided to open an additional partner program for the top 40 Esports teams of all disciplines. In particular, teams that have won championships in each discipline at EWC 2024 will be given one spot by default and the remaining teams must submit applications for approval.

The most important thing is that the budget for the program is up to 20 million USD. Thus, on average, at least one team can receive an investment of up to about 500k USD. Of course, the number will be divided according to EWCF regulations. The market this organization is targeting will include Southeast Asia, meaning VCS teams can also benefit.

In other words, in case T1 can win the tournaments they participate in (LCK, MSI, Worlds), the team can earn at least 1 million USD in 2025. This is a significant number. in the context of Esports teams in general or League of Legends in particular having to "tighten their belts" as at present.

Of course, Gen.G can still apply and receive a spot from EWCF. However, clearly, if they had put more effort into their performance at EWC 2024, Gen.G would not have had to go through their current troubles.