NOM Esports, an Israeli esports organization that competed in the Valorant Regional League East: Surge for two stages in 2022, still owes some of its former players money from the league’s prize pool, sources tell Dexerto.
Two sources close to the team who spoke to Dexerto, requesting anonymity, claimed the organization still owes players a percentage of the VRL prize pool, with one player allegedly owed about $370. Another player told Dexerto he is owed around $500 for his time with the team.
NOM placed first in Stage 1 of the regular season of the VRL league, finishing fourth in the playoffs, and then placed third in Stage 2. The second stage was completed on July 3, 2022.
Daniel ‘yaotziN’ Roczniak, the former head coach of the team, told Dexerto that NOM delayed salary and prize pool payments to him and his team. He was owed almost $2,000 in unpaid salary and tournament winnings, with NOM wiring him the money after Dexerto reached out for comment for this story.
Dexerto reported on August 24 that the organization still owed its former Valorant team almost $10,000 in salary. NOM said in a statement that the organization had missed payments but the amount owed was less than $9,000. The organization also said it had not paid the players because it had not received prize money from Frenzy, the tournament organizer that ran the VRL.
Frenzy confirmed that the company was experiencing delays in payment at the time. When asked about the payment of the prize money in September, Frenzy said NOM Esports had been paid in full. A representative from NOM said Frenzy had sent 70% of the prize money owed to the organization.
“We are trying to reach out and understand where the 30% that is missing is,” NOM Esports told Dexerto on October 1. “Either way, we have sent whatever we could to the players (all the 70%).”
According to an email from a Frenzy representative obtained by Dexerto, the prize pool was taxed by the Polish government and Frenzy gave organizations the option to decide if the tournament organizer would take the taxed money out before wiring it over to the team, or if teams would pay the taxes on their end. NOM chose to have Frenzy pay taxes before sending the prize money over to the Israeli org, according to the email.
Frenzy have not responded to Dexerto’s repeated requests for comment.
“Since receiving prize money from the VRL, our CEO has responded to all financial questions. All financial commitments have been paid to the coach and the players as per their contractual agreements, including salaries, prize money, and other miscellaneous funds by Israeli law,” NOM Esports CEO Shahar Meir said in a statement to Dexerto. “yaotziN requested a different payment method than the rest of the team, which forced us to delay his payments slightly. The CEO and the rest of the team handled the matter personally.”
NOM has also been accused of blanking a prospective CS:GO team when asked for pay. According to a source, they were in talks with the organization about forming a lineup for Valve’s esport. The team started practicing, confident that the offer was real, but once the subject of payment came up, NOM allegedly stopped responding.
“The roster in question didn’t represent the club in any tournament, and no deal was signed between us in any way,” Meir said about the CS:GO roster.
When asked about his time with the org and the communication around his payment, yaotziN said it was a nightmare to get consistent information.
“There are three people in the org, all of whom were always giving different info,” he said. “There is no transparency. Everyone is going to tell you a different story. It’s f****** ridiculous,” he said.
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