LEC Salary Cap Drops to €1.65m and Could Decrease Further in 2029

Riot Games has announced that the LEC will lower both the minimum and maximum combined wage limits for its participating teams in 2027. The publisher updated the EMEA Competitive Operations website to lower the maximum threshold from €2 million down to €1.65 million. Furthermore, the update reveals that Riot plans to decrease the LEC baseline even further to €1 million by the arrival of the 2029 season.

The Sporting Financial Regulations were originally introduced for the 2024 season to serve as a soft salary cap for top European League of Legends teams. The goal was to ensure long term financial stability and competitive balance. The regulations place a maximum limit on how much every LEC team is allowed to spend on its five highest paid players. This calculation takes into account salaries, bonuses, and additional compensation like image rights. However, personal player sponsors, cash prizes, and housing assistance remain excluded from this threshold.

Teams that exceed the limit by more than 5 percent are required to pay a luxury tax. This fine equals 50 percent of the amount by which the team overspent. Riot distributes any fees raised through these fines among non offending LEC teams and the tier two EMEA League of Legends scene. To protect organizations from sudden regulatory shifts, the rules include a grandfathering clause known as a Special Reduction. Under this clause, if a player signed a contract before the new rules came into effect, their high compensation does not fully count toward the organization budget. The regulations state that the salary of these existing players is capped at one fifth of the league wide threshold, or at their actual salary if it is lower.

In addition to the maximum cap reduction, the Sporting Financial Regulations minimum is also dropping from €1 million to €825,000. Teams that drop below this minimum threshold will not face direct fines, but they will experience a reduction in revenue from Riot and their league participation share. Exact changes to this minimum for the 2029 season have not yet been confirmed by the publisher.