Are Player Salaries Enough? A North American LOL Team Discloses Their Compensation Records
Jonathan Pan, CEO of Team Elemental and owner of North American League of Legends Challenger Series team Ember yesterday revealed their player compensation and salary numbers for their five starting roster players in an effort to promote transparency in the league.
In an essay on Medium, Pan — who founded Team Elemental earlier in December — disclosed the organization’s philosophy behind their compensation packages along with concrete salary numbers for their players.
According to Pan, Ember will be dedicated to creating a sustainable environment that fosters talent and competition in the North American region. To that end, Team Elemental will be pouring in support both for professional and personal development of their players.
“…eSports has become yet another industry where winning is the only thing that matters, at the expense of everything else. We want to win too, but we disagree with that approach. We think that by living a fulfilling life, which includes having loving relationships, will enable — not hinder — our players and staff in becoming better athletes, coaches, leaders, and above all, humans.”
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But more than competitiveness, Pan said that a core tenet of their decision to invest heavily into eSports lies in transparency.
“In every other sport, we know how much players make. Stephen Curry signed a four-year deal worth $44 million with the Golden State Warriors. Tom Brady signed a three-year deal worth $27 million with the New England Patriots. Clayton Kershaw signed a seven-year deal worth $215 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers,” Pan wrote.
“Companies have more leverage when there is information asymmetry. And that’s wrong. Last night, we shared our players’ salaries with each other. Today, we are going to share this information with the rest of the esports world so that players in CS and LCS are armed with some facts before their next negotiation.”
Team Ember’s annual compensation for their five starting players:
Gleeb — $57,500 base, $15,000 in bonuses. Total compensation of $72,500
Contractz — $60,000 base, $10,000 in bonuses. Total compensation of $70,000
Goldenglue — $65,000 base, $27,000 in bonuses. Total compensation of $92,000
Solo — $65,000 base, $21,000 in bonuses. Total compensation of $86,000
Benjamin— $60,000 base, $15,000 in bonuses. Total compensation of $75,000
According to Pan, Ember also provides housing, office space and health care for their players on top of their salaries. The team also handles legal responsibilities such as taxation in behalf of the players.
“It’s already working. This morning, one of our players called us to ask why he was being paid a certain amount versus another player. He listed some statistics about him, his win percent ratio, his KDA, etc. All great points and we are having an open discussion with him rather than keeping him in the dark,” Pan said in his essay.
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The League of Legends community has been discussing the subject of player compensation following a report that Korean eSports players with KeSPA are receiving low salaries.
With the entire industry receiving rosy outlooks from market research firms, more and more investments are entering eSports. Despite this however, player salaries remain low relative to the amount of attention the industry has achieved in recent years.
Relevant to the discussion is the amount of effort a typical eSports professional devotes to their game. 8-14 hours of play daily are not uncommon for the players at the top of their fields, while new competitors have to double their efforts in order to compete.
Esports careers are also notoriously short, with many players only enjoying a few years of success. Many have no alternative careers to fall back on, even within the eSports industry.
“It is especially important for esports players to have more information about salaries because they are putting their education on hold for an uncertain future,” said Pan.
The eSports CEO said that the move to reveal their player’s salaries can hopefully arm other professional eSports players and help them negotiate for better compensation.
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