LEC cuts team salary cap to €1.65M for 2027

The League of Legends EMEA Championship will reduce its team salary cap for the 2027 season from €2 million to €1.65 million. The limit applies to the combined pay of each team’s five highest-paid players and includes salaries, bonuses and image rights while excluding personal sponsors, cash prizes and housing assistance. Riot Games and EMEA Competitive Operations published the changes ahead of the 2027 season.

Teams that exceed the €1.65 million threshold will face a luxury tax. Clubs may use a temporary 5% buffer above the cap during the season without immediate sanctions, but organizations must bring payroll back within the limit by the following season or face penalties. The SFR minimum will fall from €1 million to €825,000; clubs below the minimum will have a portion of league revenue withheld rather than receiving direct fines.

The updated Sporting Financial Regulations add tighter accounting rules. Termination payments, financial settlements and early-release fees will count toward a team’s seasonal payroll. The league may reclassify payments based on their stated purpose, including leadership and conduct bonuses, and clubs must provide detailed financial statements. The notice period for changing the Baseline Threshold has been shortened from three seasons to two.

A grandfathering measure called the “Special Reduction” will ease the transition for existing contracts. Players who signed contracts before the new limits take effect will count toward the regulated budget at up to one-fifth of the league-wide threshold if their actual salary exceeds the cap.

Riot Games said further updates to the Sporting Financial Regulations are planned for 2028 and 2029. The changes for 2028 must be announced by Sept. 30, 2027, and the 2029 updates by Sept. 30, 2028, to give organizations time to adjust roster and financial plans.

Other major regions are also changing their rules. China’s LPL maintains league-wide spending limits and individual salary caps. South Korea’s LCK will keep its five-player cap at 4 billion won (about €2.5 million) but will replace current exemptions with a “six-point rule” tied to titles won over the previous three years and limit exemptions to two players per organization. The LCK will introduce a four-tier progressive luxury tax, with rates that can reach 60% for teams spending more than 250% of the threshold; contracts signed before July 19, 2026 will receive temporary grandfathering relief.

Arnold Hur, chief executive of Gen.G, acknowledged the rule changes will complicate planning and added, “This change does make things harder for us. I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t, but I’m not going to use it as an excuse either. The game changed and it didn’t change in our favor, so now we go figure out how to win under it.”

Riot Games noted that funds collected through luxury taxes will be redistributed to support the league’s economic sustainability and competitive balance. Teams and analysts expect the new regulations to influence roster construction and transfer windows, shifting focus toward budget management and longer-term player development.

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