LiveWire Sport has taken the next step in its potential legal battle with the International Swimming League (ISL), announcing Friday that it has instructed lawyers to begin legal proceedings.
On October 29, SwimSwam reported that LiveWire had sent out a press release claiming that the ISL owed the company a “six figure sum” and that they were considering taking legal action for a failure to repay the debts.
Just over three weeks later, the content agency has started taking the first steps against the ISL, still having not been paid for fees owed from the league’s inaugural season in 2019.
“We have been waiting over 10 months now for full payment for the services provided to ISL for Season 1,” LiveWire Sport said in its latest press release. “This is despite ISL acknowledging the debt and saying they intend to pay the outstanding amount.
“We have received advice from lawyers in the UK and Switzerland (where ISL is registered) and our lawyers in the UK have sent a letter to ISL informing them that if the debt is not paid in full we will commence Court proceedings in England and if need be will also take steps in Switzerland.
“Our team worked incredibly hard in difficult circumstances to help ISL launch in 2019 and we are frustrated at the way we have been treated.”
LiveWire says that they notified the ISL on September 22 that they had until October 20 to repay the debt, but the deadline passed without any payments made. The agency has not received any money since July.
“We note the statement that was made by ISL on October 29 about being ‘in proactive and constructive discussions’ yet we have not heard from ISL since we were last in touch with them on October 15 and have not received any payments since two part-payments in July.”
This is not the first organization to claim they haven’t been paid by the ISL.
On Thursday, SportBusiness reported that IMG Media is also awaiting payments from Season 1, joining LaPresse, who claimed they were owed somewhere in the vicinity of 200,000 euros in June, and another vendor from the opening season, Flying Fish Productions.
When Energy Standard general manager Jean-Francois Salessy announced his resignation on Sunday, SwimSwam also reported that multiple athletes have said their first solidarity payments, due October 31, haven’t been made.
Not all the water though, just the turn end.
Very disappointing news! I mean ISL was supposed to be “better” than FINA which everyone agreed is very corrupted and real money stayed with the top officials but not the athletes.
For 2 years, I am excited to see professional swimmers getting more opportunity to earn some money, race as a team and do some fast swimming. This news feels very crushing… sigh….
I for one have enjoyed the ISL this season. It is a miracle that a season was even held. Before everyone jumps on the Debbie Downer bandwagon, let’s see what the experts and scientists have to say.
Since the league was founded by a Russian-Ukrainian oligarch, it’s sadly not shocking that the financial reality of the league, which was always questionable, appears to now be crumbling before our eyes. With contractors and athletes not being paid, and whatever is going on with Energy Standard that led to the GMs resignation, one must ask what Grigorishin is really up to, considering that in theory all of the leagues expenses should be pocket change for him.
Considering the situation with COVID-19 worldwide and in Hungary, it’s a miracle we even got a 2020 ISL season. Considering that as far as we know the bills aren’t being paid, it’s a miracle we’ve made it to the final. I’m glad… Read more »
Maybe he found a better way to launder his money…
Energy Standard is a team owned by a Russian-Ukrainian, they are based in Paris and train in Turkey. For me this looks weird, Energy Standard as a team is pretty much in a blur.
Who pays the athletes the league or the team?
Are all the athletes not being paid or just athletes on some teams?
The league is being nearly entirely funded through the central power right now. I can’t say with certainty whether they filter that money through the teams, but, it’s all coming from the league office for the time being.
I haven’t surveyed every one of the 320 swimmers in the league, but I have asked swimmers on different teams, and none of them have said they’ve been paid. Since reporting that last week, nobody has stuck their hand up to dispute it, either.
If they haven’t been paid for the first season it leaves open the question why these people came back for the second season.
The only reason I can think of is the nearly two months of consistent training and competition it provides during Covid.
Athletes received their money for the first season.
It doesn’t appear that any of the companies that have had issues receiving payment have returned for the 2nd season.
I-Stiff-Lawyers, too.
– Konstantin Grigorishin
@Steve: Yeah, but look at these positives:
1) the swimmers got “quite the real world education”;
2) there’ve been some WRs and assorted fast swims;
3) the ISL has been good for SwimSwam’s traffic (yea, Braden!)
4) Budapest in the autumn has its charms
Speaking of world records, are those official?? I mean, there’s being a lot of controversy on dolphin kicks, 15m mark and one hand turns
Is it too late for Cali to add Simone Manuel to their roster for the final? They could offer her one billion dollars for one meet and she’d get the honor of being the highest money earner in ISL history. May as well, it’s not like they’d actually pay her that money so what have they got to lose?
You get a car, and you get a car. Everyone gets a car!
Ugh. I’m immediately mad at myself for posting this because if Grigorishin sees it he’s gonna do it. But for Energy.