The minimum salary in LPL revealed by former professional LoL player

Until recently, the salary of Chinese professional League of Legends players was a mystery; a former professional LPL player has revealed information about the league’s minimum salary.

Within the League of Legends ecosystem, some leagues have had a reputation for being stronger financially. In the case of the West, historically, the league with the most economic clout is the LCS. In contrast, the LPL has long been rumored to hold that status for leagues in the East. Lately, however, it has been claimed that the South Korean league has the most economic clout.

Salaries in the LPL

A few days ago, data on the salaries of some Chinese LoL players came to the public light. Among these data, the seven highest-paid players have received ¥ 30 million, equivalent to a little more than € 4 million.

Among the highest paid is the player Zhuo “knight” Ding, who has been paid more than ¥ 45 million, or more than € 6 million per year. However, that is not the case for all players in the league; a former TES player has now revealed the lowest salaries.

A former Top Esports substitute player named Wang “Xiaopeng” Peng claims that the minimum salary in the LPL is ¥20,000, equivalent to €2,700. This would leave the lowest-paid players in the league with annual salaries of €32,400; however, the former player did not specify whether this is a net or gross salary. In addition, Xiaopeng claims that one of the current top players in TES, Yu “Qingtian” Zi-Han, earns this salary.

LPL salary cap

Currently, in the LPL, a maximum salary cap is set; with this average, they seek to equalize the competition and avoid economic bubbles. The salary cap is set by competition specialists who examine the stats and performance within the Summoner’s Rift; in this way, they can set this cap. Once the analysis is completed, the specialists divide the competitors into various levels known as tiers (S, A, B, etc.) to determine the monthly maximum.

In the highest tier, some players perform very well within the league and take those performances to the world stage. In other words, they are all those players who have participated in competitions such as the Mid-Seaosn Invitational and the World Championships.

On the other hand, there are those players with excellent performance but are not considered world-class players; these fall into level A. As the tiers decrease, so do the salaries. According to the information, many of the region’s best players who have not won an international competition are not in the highest rank.

Penalties for match-fixing

In addition to releasing the LPL’s minimum salary, Xiaopeng has revealed the league’s measures to curb match-fixing incidents. One of the biggest problems in this area is match-fixing, especially in the second division.

Due to match-fixing incidents, some players, such as Zhou “Bo” Yang-Bo of Team Vitality, he was suspended for half a year. According to Xiaopeng, after Bo’s incident, LPL officials made professional players sign an agreement stating that players involved in match-fixing must pay a fine of ¥5 million.

Header: LPL