With three LoL World Championship wins to his credit, Faker is unarguably one of the most known LoL players in West and East alike. Let’s say; he did not get a spot on the Forbes Asia’s Entertainment and Sports “30 Under 30” list for no reason. He has built a reputation as the best midlaner over the years, to an extent that he is not viewed as a veteran but a legend.
Therefore, it is not surprising that there are a lot of teams willing to do anything to lure him during the off-season. For the huge fan following and the exceptional talent that comes with the package.
T1 Esports
Up till now, Lee Sang-hyeok has spent the majority of his career with SK Telecom T1– now known as T1 Esports after their Comcast Spectacor partnership. He even made his debut in 2013 as a professional player with this organization. He has bagged eight domestic titles, 3 World Championships, and an MSI with different line-ups since then.
By the end of 2019- a year where SKT won both LCK splits but failed to bag an international prize- his contract with them ended, leaving him a free agent for a brief amount of time. However, he ultimately re-signed from a contract of two years with T1.
Radio Star Interview
In a recent interview on Radio Star, a Korean talk show, he sheds light on the various offers that came his way. He confirmed the rumor that he was provided a ten million dollar contract from China. And North America offered him a blank cheque so that he can put a price on his services by himself.
China’s offer alone amounts to roughly eight times the total earnings throughout his career via prize money. It is crazier when you consider that Faker is the only LoL player who has broken the million-dollar barrier in prize winnings.
Charity
Faker turned down all these offers, which goes to show that the iconic esports figure is not driven by money. He reveals in the same interview that his monthly spending is under 200,000 South Korean Won (170 USD).
The millionaire esports player is not wasting his earnings. He is saving up for charity.
“In the future, I want to use the money I earned for charity,” he claims. “The career of a professional gamer is very short, so I want to manage my career well to work as long as possible.”
An esports player’s career is unarguable Nobody knows how long Faker will last. Yet he rejected the tempting proposals to continue playing in his country.
Another reason why he might have turned down all these huge offers is to stay loyal to his admirers. Admirers who have stayed with him throughout his LCK career.
…but who made these proposals?
No one knows who is behind these huge contracts. But it would not be crazy to assume that the blank cheque might be from Team Liquid. They have proved before that they keep close track of the LoL Championship in Korea with their importation of CoreJJ and Impact. Moreover, they have the highest in prize money earnings- a staggering $34 million.
His new T1 squad made their debut in the KeSPA Cup recently. They successfully made their way to the semi-finals before getting defeated by Sandbox. The team will come back to action in the LCK 2020 Spring season. The date of the tournament has not been confirmed yet.
