LEC has officially introduced a salary cap to the competition, limiting the amount that teams can pay in wages to players.
Following rumors on Sept. 27, the Sports Financial Regulations, or SFR in short, will come into effect at the start of the 2024 season. With the SFR system, teams will need to “maintain the total sum of salaries paid to the top five highest-paid players in a team within a certain range,” the announcement reads.
There will be two thresholds in LEC’s SFR system—the upper (SFR Threshold) and the lower (SFR Floor). The lower spending threshold will have to amount to 50 percent of the SFR Threshold, meaning there is a minimum wage that squads must be paid to compete.
Additionally, the SFR Threshold will be calculated on a number of things. These include LEC player salaries, League Revenue Pool for the current and forecasted years, team financial data, and other market indicators.
If a team surpasses the SFR Floor or SFR Threshold, they will be forced to pay an additional SFR Fee. There are two instances in which the organizations will need to do so. In the first one, if the sum of the top five players’ salaries overtakes the SFR Threshold, the org will need to pay 50 percent of the excess to the League as an SFR Fee.
In the second instance, if the sum exceeds 150 percent of the Threshold, that org will have to pay 100 percent of that excess to the LEC.
These SFR Fees won’t be just for Riot to claim either. 50 percent of it will be distributed to LEC teams that comply with both Thresholds, while the remaining 50 percent will be distributed to EMEA League teams so that the tier-two ecosystem has better support.
Last but not least, there are also a few opportunities for exceptions. If a player signs a contract with the team during or before the 2023 LEC Season Finals, “the SFR Spend will be reduced by one-fifth of the SFR Threshold or the actual salary amount; whichever is lower.”
Rules will come into force on the 2024 LEC Global Contract Start Date, which is scheduled for Nov. 21, 2023.
