LEC Announces New Regulations to Limit Top Player Salaries

The new LEC Sporting Financial Regulations will set a threshold for the sum of the highest-earning players in each team. Here's what the SFR does.

Long-term stability has been a big question in the esports sphere in recent months. As a result, major regions like EMEA are implementing new rulesets to make the ecosystem more sustainable overall.

On September 28, the LEC introduced the Sporting Financial Regulations (SFR) on the official LoL esports website. Once in effect, these bylaws will have teams pay an excess fee (called the “SFR fee”) when the money they spend on their top-performing players exceeds a set range limit.

Essentially, the LEC SFR intends to help organizations spend less, and in turn, help them lower their operation costs in the current economical climate.

Director of League of Legends Esports, EMEA Maximilian Peter Schmidt also went on record to explain the new statutes, and to emphasize its importance to the LEC in the long-term. “By doing this, we aim to encourage teams to operate more sustainable businesses to provide job security for players and ensure we serve our fans for decades to come.”, Schmidt explained.

The Sporting Financial Regulations will become effective at the start of the 2024 League of Legends EMEA Championship season. Here's how it works.

LEC Sporting Financial Regulations Explained

LEC Sporting Financial Regulations Terms

• SFR Spend – the total sum of salaries
• SFR Threshold – the most a team can spend on their top player salaries (calculated based on LEC player salaries, projected League Revenue Pool, team revenue and expenses & miscellaneous “market indicators”)
• SFR Floor – the least a team can spend; 50% of the SFR Threshold
• SFR Fee – penalty for teams who exceed the SFR Threshold

The article continued to explain how the SFR Fee would be spent. The fines will be distributed 50/50, with one half going towards the teams who complied with the SFR guidelines, and the other half spent for bolstering the EMEA league's tier-two ecosystem.

LEC Sporting Financial Regulations Exceptions

The SFR will compensate for new additions to team rosters. If a new player gets contracted to play for a team before the end of the 2023 season, that team's SFR Spend will be lowered by either a fifth of the SFR Threshold, or by the player's actual salary, with the lower amount being chosen.

According to the official announcement, the policy will become effective on November 21, 2023 (2024 LEC Global Contract Start Date), and will conclude its first cycle on November 18, 2024 (2024 LEC Global Contract End Date).

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