Editing Sponsored (section)

==Modus operandi==
Any sponsored team needs outside benefactors willing to donate resources to meet operating costs.<ref>“You were thinking you might go independent?”<br><br>“Which doesn’t pay,” I said.  “Not in this environment.”<br><br>“How does that work?” Fume Hood asked.  “If you’re a crook, it’s easy, you take jobs at the villain bar, or you rob some place, or any number of things.  You just… go out on patrol?”<br><br>“There are a few other things to do,” I said.  “One way is to essentially run a protection racket that isn’t a racket.  It’s easy for that to go wrong.  There’s a higher level effect, which is easier to pull off when, say, a city has a downtown area and the shop owners gather together to pay a wage to the hero that draws attention and has a positive influence on their area…”<br><br>“Things have to be stable before that happens,” Tempera said.<br><br>“We’re not there yet,” I said. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2017/12/12 Excerpt] from [[Flare 2.2]]</ref> Operating costs include upkeep for headquarters pay and benefits for the support crew, legal consultants and more.

While there is overlap with [[Corporate Team]]s, Sponsored Teams are not employees and can seek outside donors or resources independently; Corporate Teams are wholly owned by their single company and can not break away<ref>I mean, they’re sponsored, not corporate, so they had someone paying the bills and all they had to do was hero. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/12/04 Excerpt] from [[Polarize 10.12]]</ref> without, supposedly, forfeiting their cape identity.<ref>He maintains a minor but steadfastly loyal following.  In 2010 Snaptrap was approached about a reality television deal.  He ultimately rejected the offer when the PRT informed him he would not be able to retain the PRT owned name of Snaptrap. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Swjz8BZZNE4bq6lTkHanTK4sJ-K_xVlFudxA16mYjH4/edit#bookmark=id.qbxiv19q72rl PRT Files document 12]</ref><!-- very expected corpo-behaviour, any quotes on that? I believe a Puma is mentioned-->

The visibility of the team and attendance at their contributors events, promotion of certain brands, licensing of the teams individual or collective image<ref name="Exhibit A"/> interviews and more. 

While the term is largely used in the context of [[Heroes]] it also applies to [[Villains]]<ref name="R1"/> and [[mercenaries]]. Consider for example the [[Wikipedia:Deep web|Deep web]] [[Ranking site]]s, which pay for many of the same things.<ref name="R1">Ranking Sites - (Bambina talks briefly about these) - sites that track hero/villain wins and losses sometimes offer payment to qualifying heroes, host streams or interviews, or do a kind-of-corporate-but-less-strings-attached sponsorship that's often contingent on holding a good position. - [https://redd.it/5xwr8m Can rogues make a living as a hero?] ([[Wildbow]], Reddit.com, 2017-03-06)</ref> It is unknown how common it is to have autonomous, yet long-term hirelings among villains. [[The Undersiders]] were this under another [[Coil's Organization|organization]].
{{Ref|name=under|“I said we owed you.  All yours, no strings attached.”<br>[...]<br>I took [the lunch box].  From the weight and the motion of the contents inside it, I immediately had a pretty good idea of what it was.  I undid the clasps and opened the box.<br><br>“Money,” I breathed, caught off guard by suddenly having so much in my hands. [...] Lisa answered before I had the number totaled up in my head, “Two grand.”<br><br>I closed the box and did the clasps.  With no idea what to say, I stayed silent.<br><br>“You have two choices,” Lisa explained, “You can take that as a gift.  A thank you for, intentionally or not, saving our ass from Lung last night.  And maybe a bit of incentive to count us among your friends when you’re out in costume and doing dastardly deeds.”<br>[...]<br>“And the second option?” I asked.<br><br>“You can take this as your first installment in the monthly allowance you’re entitled to as a member of the Undersiders,” Brian spoke up, “As one of us.”<br>[...]<br>“Two thousand a month,” I said.<br><br>“No,” Brian cut in, “That’s just what the boss pays us, to stick together and to stay active.  We make, uh, considerably more than that.”|#Insinuation 2.6}}