The impending launch of the Global Poker League has plenty of people in the poker industry excited. It also has some detractors, but league founder Alex Dreyfus is sticking to his vision of introducing the game of poker to people around the world through the uniquely formatted league.

The league plans to leverage its relationship with USA Today and other media outlets to promote teams and players vigorously. A poker-only page of USA Todayfeaturing the GPL is expected to debut next week online and then expand to the print version later. According to Dreyfus, the content on it will focus on covering the league in a manner similar to how the NFL or NBA is covered.

GPL players contracts have a two-year term, committing each player to the league through 2017. Players will be paid $100 per hour during Season 1 plus a share of team revenues, with that amount going up to $150 for Season 2. Players will also be compensated for media days or other media events, although right now these are scheduled around GPL matches and so not much travel should be required.

Any player who resigns from the league will be required to pay back at least a portion of the money earned, if not all of it.

Team revenues are largely driven by merchandise sales and any team sponsors that come on board, something that’s unlikely in Season 1 but definitely a possibility for Season 2. Still, Dreyfus and others are planning to pursue sponsorships for individual teams. However, he conceded that the 12-team GPL needs “to have a product and an audience first” before any meaningful sponsorships can be signed. Each team receives 30% of their team sponsorship revenue, while the remaining 70% goes to the league.

In a departure from traditional poker programming but in line with how major sports leagues operate, no third-party patches can be worn on a player’s GPL jersey. As such, players with existing sponsors will be unable to represent them during GPL play.

The Season 1 schedule is still being finalized, but Dreyfus hopes to have at least part of it ready for public consumption after the draft. “We have decided not to release details because it’s a process that has a lot of moving parts,” the GPL head said. “We have a lot of exciting venues we’re working on and a lot of dates we’re working on as well. We’ll release some of the schedule post-draft.”

Up to 70% of the regular season will be online six-handed and heads-up games. Games will be played on the GPL’s own online poker platform and not on a mainstream site.

“We don’t want them to play on sites like 888 or PokerStars, but rather on a dedicated platform,” Dreyfus said. “Our focus is to offer the best viewing experience. Therefore, we needed to have a platform, for example, that allows us to pause the game when there is an all-in and a call to allow the commentators to say something long before the next street, like on an EPT or WSOP broadcast.”

The remainder of the regular season will be heads-up studio and live events with a shot clock. In the studio and live events, players will play standing up. Live events will, in part, be scheduled around major live poker events, minimizing the amount of travel that’s required.

The GPL playoffs and finals will be live games in a three-on-three format, the details of which will be released later. The matches will be broadcast on Twitch for the world to see.