Faker won't be making millions anymore!
LCK Could Implement Salary Cap
Korean news outlet Inven recently reported on a potential salary cap for the professional Korean League of Legends league. This news has been confirmed by multiple esports officials, which could point to some changes in the LCK in the coming years.
This isn't the first time a salary cap for the LCK has been in discussion, with some teams strongly against it, while many are for the addition of a cap to help teams with acquiring talent and players.
LCK Salary Cap: Will It Affect Talent In The LCK?
With the "threat" of a salary cap looming over the LCK, some orgs and teams have always said that it could lower the quality of the leagues' talent, with some of the best players leaving the region to make the big buck elsewhere. It seems though that the sentiment has shifted throughout the last few months, with more and more teams agreeing to a salary cap.
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The League has not yet made it official whether they will implement a salary cap, but even more prominent teams like T1 have been operating at a loss. According to Inven, SK Telecom CST1 revealed a loss of about ₩166 billion, which is around $140 million.
Even the CEO of Gen.G, Arnold Hur, revealed some information on the current economic structure of esports and how it could influence the future of teams. He predicted there to be an "esports winter" in the future and that change needed to happen to improve the existing ecosystem in esoprts.
The LPL implemented a salary cap in 2021. At first it was a soft cap as teams and orgs got used to the new system, but for the 2023 it was strictly regulated with three different classification tiers for players to be placed into.
Salary caps in sports is nothing new and they could help teams in the LCK and could even out the league. Whether it will be implemented though is yet to be determined, with the LCK still not having confirmed these reports by Inven.