Also, is eXtv likely to be willing to set up another donation drive for i49, or would it be another person/org?

I am not familiar enough with how i46 was eventually organised.

Won't be eXtv. My preference would be for the teams to host their own sponsorship drives and the casters can hype them up.

The new epsilon is harder, better, faster, stronger.
What you said is probably true though, but i think it'll make a difference now EU uses the same unlocks and started playing more aggressive. is it worth it? depends, i would LOVE to see it happen.
But i don't think it's gonna give comp tf2 a much bigger amount of viewers/(big)sponsors.

I'd throw some cash into seeing a NA team go to i49.

I would donate. i46 was the most fun I've ever had watching anything as a spectator.

I'd like to see enigma/TF.tv handle the donation drive this time around, via indiegogo or a similar service, much like Beyond The Summit did for their LA Studio.

I did consider suggesting Vanilla help with setting up a donation drive, but this really doesn't make any sense considering it'll be going towards a NA team coming over and enigma/TF.tv have the much closer contacts and knowledge of costs involved and what benefits donation tiers can have.

Echoing Arx's statement, it needs to be discussed, and if agreed, started earlier this time around.

Enigma, because we want one guy to do all the work.

i46 was incredibly entertaining to watch.

I would definitely donate.

Since our manager knows of this much earlier in advance, plans are underway (wants us to bootcamp for like a week if we are to go, or something). Not CONCRETE right now, but we have hopes.

Also I owe extremer a drink :|

Are there any rough figures for prizes? More? Less? Same? That's the only real concern for him right now. He doesn't really expect a 1:1 return - it's more about getting "some" back, + the exposure for sponsors, etc that makes it 'worth it' - so to speak. I myself don't really care - it'd be awesome to meet euro + NA players

Well shit, if the Aussies are going, we can't afford not to have at least one American team go too.

I might have time to poke enigma tonight and see if anything can be ironed out. It's already March, so the donation drive would need to start very soon. You'd want the tickets purchased by late July.

First things first, that would just be unbelievably sick!

Here are the prize pots from i46 (last summer) -> click PRIZES. I'd expect something pretty similar: http://iseries.multiplay.co.uk/i46/tournaments/event/team-fortress-2/#about

Usually some hardware prizes on top of that from a sponsor or 2. i46 was about 35-40 teams I think, looks about right from looking at the results page, so I believe 1st place prize was £2500 ($3750).

Shit. The aussie's are going to come in and stomp everyone and now NA and EU will be sad :(

USA USA USA

Just get top players to do silly things on stream and I'd probably throw a pence or two, especially since Aussies are eyeing it up.

E-Busking too stronk.

We wanted to go last time, but it was too late notice for the manager(s) to start pulling things together and it didn't happen :(

As I said, nothing CONCRETE right now, but a lot earlier notice means they're a lot more keen this time :D

I think feral came over for i46

First, what team do you play on yuki? :O

Second, IF the Australians go, I'd be happy to see a true clash of titans :>

Team Immunity.

Start the collection for i49.

From reading this entire thread, I've seen people talk about how the last i48/i46 brought the NA and EU scenes closer together and how they have even begun to work on 'projects' and 'content' together as one entity. Well, this appears to be another one of those 'projects'. There are people from both scenes that have already pledged to donate to seeing this battle between NA and EU happen again at i49.

So why not let us see if we can raise the funds?

And the people saying 'well you should be donating those $50 to a tournament prize pool', when was the last time you saw a prize pool thread/donation for a tournament (granted I haven't been around this scene until recently, I could be wrong.) Why not let the people donate to what they WANT to see happen, whether it brings exposure/grows the community doesn't matter, people want what they want. And to a certain extent, the people that donate to the cause will be self-promoters for the i49, because to them, it's a big deal and that's all they're going to talk about to their friends once it's confirmed that it's happening.

I say, let the people donate to what THEY want, and it's never too early to start the collection. I will even donate because I feel that this community has helped me greatly in the past months and I feel it's time to return the favor.

also sal can you promise that the documentary will be out before i49?

He was just world tripping off his savings and timed it so he could go to i46 while he was at it.

So maybe we could start a donation page now (by we, I mean a respected member or organisation of our community who has relatively easy contact with top US teams/players) with the proviso that if we don't reach our goal, then the money will go to charity?

If people want it to happen, it can happen. We have a big headstart on last year's fund.

Or reserve that money for i52.

I'm already hyped

anyone with contacts in asiafortress?

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!

Would be sweet to have the Australians there as well. I'm going to have to spend a lot of money on donating it seems.

we can finally find out if yuki is actually a dingo irl

12:53 PM - 2sÿ.c0m3 seE m3: aussies show up
12:53 PM - 2sÿ.c0m3 seE m3: and it's a dingo
12:53 PM - 2sÿ.c0m3 seE m3: a koala
12:53 PM - 2sÿ.c0m3 seE m3: a sheep
12:53 PM - 2sÿ.c0m3 seE m3: a kangaroo
12:54 PM - 2sÿ.c0m3 seE m3: a fuckhuge spider
12:54 PM - 2sÿ.c0m3 seE m3: and a cane toad
12:54 PM - 2sÿ.coquette: and their manager is steve irwin

if Team Immunity shows up ill probably actually watch the entire event.

He has people to count on to run this kind of stuff; it's really matter of if something this high of a "risk" would succeed and be worth the "cost".

But if Australia is going...

I'mma be at i49 for sure!
I was at i46 (Shut up Americans) and it was a blast.
i49 isn't going to be as good for TF2, but I'm still gonna be there for the 3 days

Risk can be mitigated. If you collect the donations through a fee-less method and make sure you're getting return info, then if the donation target isn't met, you just have to sit down and return everyone's money. Granted, that would make for one huge hassle for whomever is running the finances, but it can be done.