League of Legends: T1 suspected of irregularities in its sponsorship profit reporting..

Sports Seoul exclusively reported on Sunday that League of Legends e-sports powerhouse T1 is suspected of irregularities in its sponsorship profit reporting.

According to the report, an investigation was conducted after T1 announced its first-ever profit in early 2026.

The investigation revealed that the vast majority of T1's sponsorship contracts were linked to an outsourced US agency known as "Company A," whose shareholders have close ties to T1 CEO Joe Marsh.

The investigation also found that in these 16 sponsorship agreements, both Marsh and "Company A" were entitled to a "10-15% commission" from the contracted sponsorship amount. However, due to the complexity of the arrangement and the possibility that the actual commission might be much higher than stated in the contracts, the exact details of how this commission structure operates are currently unclear.

It is reported that T1 renewed its contract with the agency in January 2026, coinciding with the extension of Marsh's term, which was originally scheduled to expire on October 7, 2025.

Previously, Sheep Esports reported in May 2026 that Marsh's term had been extended to March 30, 2029.

On the other hand, employees involved in the investigation also claimed to reporters that sponsorship agreements directly negotiated by T1's internal team were also included in the performance of this American agency.

An insider told Sports Seoul that the club reportedly signed a sponsorship agreement with a large international company for less than half the amount typically received by similar European clubs. The source believes this deal was facilitated by the agency.

According to the source, these undervalued agreements forced the club to sign more partners to meet its commercial goals, adding an extra burden that ultimately fell on the players, especially T1's five ace players.

Reporters pointed out that in 2025, T1 players will have to spend 102 days a year on external commercial activities in addition to competitions.

Furthermore, shortly after the team won the 2025 League of Legends Worlds in China, they traveled to Germany on November 29th to participate in the Red Bull "League of Its Own" event, and then went directly to Saudi Arabia to film a promotional video for "Red Sea Global".

Subsequently, the team had almost no rest, continuing to participate in a series of fan meetings, overseas promotional activities, and award ceremonies, while also finding time to participate in and win the 2025 KeSPA Cup in December.

This situation sparked strong internal dissatisfaction, ultimately leading to the recent resignation of 75% of the staff in the club's partner teams.

With the release of the report, due to the seriousness of the allegations, the incident immediately triggered strong dissatisfaction among the fans of this LCK powerhouse. As of press time, fans had collectively arranged for a truck to deliver funeral wreaths to T1 headquarters in protest.

Previously, T1 announced that the club had achieved an 80% revenue increase and its first profit by 2025.

According to the consolidated financial statements released at the time, the South Korean League of Legends e-sports club's revenue reached approximately 90.57 billion won, a year-on-year increase of 77.7%, with an operating profit of 2.07 billion won and a net profit of 838 million won.

Image source: Internet / Seoul Sports / Riot Games