League of Legends casters Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles, Eric "DoA" Lonnquist and Chris "PapaSmithy" Smith will not be attending Riot Games' Mid-Season Invitational due to payment concerns.

The freelance casters who are also broadcaster for OnGameNet (OGN) withdrew from the event Wednesday, saying in a statement on Medium that the League of Legends developers refused to meet industry standard rates for their services.

"We rely on these contracts for our income and feel that we would damage our careers in the long term by accepting below-market rates," the statement said. "Furthermore, by agreeing to a significantly lower wage we fear that we may contribute to the regression of standards for freelance casters in the industry as a whole."

The three casters also mentioned in the statement that a survey of many participants in other esports titles – StarCraft II, Dota2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone and Halo 5 – confirmed just how low Riots' offer was. 

"We were surprised to discover from our peers that Riot's offer to us was approximately 40% to 70% of the rate received by talent for major events in all of these titles," the statement said. "We shared these rates with Riot in the hope of reaching an agreement commensurate with the market but, while they offered a nominal increase, their deal remained far below industry standard for 2016."

The casters haven't given up hope on their relationship with Riot and stressed their commitment to their League of Legends casting on OGN.

"We love League of Legends and working with Riot Games' world-class production team, and we are disappointed we cannot contribute to an excellent event like MSI," the statement said.

"We hope that Riot Games will reconsider their rates for freelancers so we can collaborate again in the future."