Competitive solutions: why the KHL raises the salary cap and floor

While the first round of the KHL playoffs is coming to an end, the league's leadership is implementing reforms for the coming seasons. So, on April 7, the board of directors of the organization approved changes to the restrictions on the salaries of clubs for the next three years. By the 2027/28 season, the salary cap will increase from the current 900 million rubles to 1 billion rubles, and the salary floor will increase from the current 450 million rubles to 600 million rubles. According to experts and a number of club leaders, this should further strengthen competition in the championship.

Ceiling

The KHL introduced a strict salary cap in 2020. Over the past five years, it has been equal to 900 million rubles, which is how much each club can add to the hockey players' salary fund during the season. This figure will remain for the next season, 2025/26. But already in the 2026/27 season, the ceiling will rise to 950 million rubles, and in the 2027/28 season it will be equal to 1 billion rubles. This is the first time since the introduction of the salary cap that it will be raised.

The practice of salary cap spending was invented in the NHL back in the 1990s. It assumed the alignment of personnel opportunities between all participants of the tournament. And it's hard to find a person who will say that expectations have not been fulfilled. In the last 20 years, there have been almost no seasons in the NHL when anyone could predict the favorite and the future champion in advance. There have been cases when the winner of the regular season was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by a team that barely got there.

There have also been cases of unexpected results in the KHL. Moreover, even in the early seasons, it happened that a rich club like SKA St. Petersburg was eliminated by low-budget rivals like Dinamo Riga and Spartak Moscow. But in the mid-2010s, the sensations in the Gagarin Cup almost disappeared. And with rare exceptions, the series was won by a club with a bigger budget and a more stellar cast.

Even then, many hockey experts, journalists, and even club leaders advocated the introduction of restrictions, as in the NHL. The historic moment came in 2020, when the KHL imposed a strict salary cap of 900 million rubles. This gradually began to lead to unexpected results, although at first the two richest and most stellar teams in the Western Conference became the best in the playoffs - CSKA Moscow and SKA St. Petersburg, who continued to play each other in the semifinals.

But in the last two seasons, both army clubs have not reached the penultimate stage of the Gagarin Cup. And this season they were eliminated in the first round. As well as the current Gagarin Cup winner, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, whose triumph last year was also a good advertisement for the salary cap, since Andrei Razin's team achieved success with almost no stars and relied heavily on young people.

—The KHL wants to ensure that the opportunities of the clubs are, if not equal — ideally — then at least without a difference on a planetary scale,— Leonid Weisfeld, former general manager of Salavat Yulaev, Avtomobilist and Lada, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — Then the competition level will be high. It is still high, if we take the dynamics of the last 10-15 years, but there is no limit to perfection. The same salary cap, introduced in 2020, solves this problem. Another thing is that if all these reforms had been introduced more aggressively, the task would have been solved faster. And you don't even have to reinvent the wheel here — you can see all the mechanisms from the NHL, how they work there. Another question is that, as far as I understand, not all KHL clubs want these changes. For example, it is not profitable for rich clubs. And the league has to negotiate with them for a long time in order to carry out the necessary reforms.

At the same time, raising the salary cap to 1 billion rubles may increase the ability of clubs to invite expensive stars of the level of Evgeny Kuznetsov, who has been playing for St. Petersburg SKA since last summer.

"There is a point of view that more serious money is needed to invite elite players," Weisfeld explained. — If earlier we calmly competed with Europe for high-quality players from abroad, now the political aspect has been added. Accordingly, in order for the league to be attractive to strong players, it is necessary to raise the ceiling. As far as I understand, this is the logic of the decision to raise it by 100 million rubles in 2026-2028.

Paul

The salary floor was introduced in order for clubs with the lowest budgets to increase their competitiveness and reduce the gap in recruiting teams from the rich representatives of the league. In 2020, the KHL started with a minimum of 270 million. This season it is 450 million. Next season, it will increase to 475 million, in the 2026/27 season - to 525 million, in the 2027/28 season — to 600 million. Thus, the difference between the ceiling and the floor in three years will amount to 400 million rubles. Now it is equal to 450 million.

— It seems to me that the level of competition in the KHL is about the same and will remain — there is no revolution in the changes, — said Weisfeld. — The idea here is that you need to reduce the difference between the ceiling and the floor. This is on the one hand. But on the other hand, sudden movements should not be made, since the financial situation of the clubs is different. From my point of view, the steps that the league is taking are quite logical. Everyone is talking about the salary cap, which will equalize the capabilities of the teams. In fact, it's not the ceiling itself that allows you to align the possibilities, but a decrease in the delta between the ceiling and the floor. And the ceiling should be reasonable in terms of the solvency of the clubs and the invitation of qualified players.

Interestingly, the salary floor for the five years of its existence did not lead to the fact that clubs with a minimum wage fund for players refused to comply with it. Cherepovets Severstal, Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik, Vladivostok Admiral and other low-budget clubs easily negotiated with their founders to increase payments in accordance with the KHL regulations. According to Leonid Weisfeld, this should not become a problem in the future.

— I don't think that raising the floor will lead to a reduction in the number of KHL clubs, — the former general manager added. — A holy place is never empty. One club that can't or won't fit into the floor will leave, and another will take its place. The second point is that there are club owners who do not want to invest as much money as possible in their development, but give the minimum amount for the club to exist. Usually, the dialogue between the owners and club managers is as follows: "What is the minimum amount needed?" - "Here you go..." — "Oh, here you go!" And I talked about this topic several times when I was a general manager. He asked for 100 million rubles more so that we could create a completely different, stronger team. And they explained to me in response: "Yes, we can give 100 million rubles more, but others will give 500 million more. There will be an arms race again, and we won't win anything." That's about the logic. She is not in all clubs, but this is one example of why it is necessary to raise the salary floor. If it were half the size, they would have given half the budget. The gap between the clubs would be bigger, and the competitive element would be lost.

The KHL also introduced changes to the system of bonus payments that are not included in the salary cap. The maximum amount of bonuses to players for reaching the second stage of the KHL playoffs will be 50 million rubles. An additional 75 million rubles (up to 125 million rubles in total) will be paid for reaching the semifinals, and up to 150 million rubles (up to 275 million rubles in total) for reaching the finals. The amount of rewards for winning the championship is unlimited. Bonus payments are not included in the salary cap if they are received by at least 60% of the main squad players who participated in the second part of the championship. In addition, the difference in the amount of the maximum and minimum bonuses for players cannot differ by more than four times.

"We reacted positively to the changes — even when there was a survey of KHL clubs, we voted for these decisions on the salary cap and floor," Igor Larionov, director of Neftekhimik, told Izvestia. — An increase in the budget will allow us to strengthen the team and improve sports performance. Are our sponsors ready to raise the budget based on the new salary floor? Our senior management and shareholders of the club have always helped us to comply with the requirements of the KHL regulations in order to meet the level of the league. Including the gender of hockey players' salaries. In general, the smaller the difference between the salary cap and the salary floor, the more equal the opportunities for clubs to recruit their teams will be. The same applies to the KHL's restrictions on the premium system.

According to Leonid Weisfeld, another mechanism that could help in equalizing the capabilities of teams is to reduce the application of clubs. This topic has been raised more than once in the relevant sports and hockey media, but it has not yet reached the official decisions of the KHL.

— If we want to achieve a competitive league and the most unpredictable results, then, of course, reducing the application is one of the mechanisms for equalizing opportunities, — concluded Weisfeld. — Those who are against it often say that as a result of the cuts, many players will be left without clubs. But they will just go to the VHL teams, where the competition is already high, but then it will increase even more.

The KHL Board of Directors also approved the list of participants in the regular season of the next season. It has not changed compared to the current draw.