Then this is not sponsoring, a more accurate word would be gambling. The main goal of a sponsor is publicity … , and the conflict of interest here lay in the idea that you are working against the non-sponsor user(The Lambada User) by lowering the odds.

It’s like you say out loud to people “I’m giving poor people 1 million dollars” then you disguise yourself as a poor person to get some of this money back. Some people can even see this as a (Circle jerk) strategy to recover invested money for publicity or any other plan. People are providing money by voting for the teams, and by the registration process, and if this end up by a sponsor getting money from the people sponsored(steemitboard) this will be no longer a sponsorship operation but an investment.

Therefore, I suggest pumping more liquid to the prize pool at the end of the competition, this will allow more transparency, and the sponsors can play the game without affecting the odds too much.

In the end, I honestly don't have any problem with that, this is just a game after all. Good Luck =) and thanks for all the work that you are doing for this community.