According to sources close to BLIX, the ERL will have 3 splits in 2024, following the format that the LEC currently has. The ERL (or European Regional Leagues) includes leagues such as the LFL (the French league) and the Superliga (the Spanish league). In addition to general format changes in the ERL, different options are being studied to reformulate the EMEA masters format for 2024, but at the moment, BLIX cannot say for sure what the new format will be.
In addition to the changes in the Splits, some rules in certain leagues will also be changed; the most striking is the elimination of the requirement to have a Gaming house in the Spanish Superliga. The main reason for eliminating this rule would be to help teams lower costs during the ongoing economic recession that esports organizations are experiencing during 2023.
The possibility of applying a salary cap for the ERL in 2024 is being studied. There is nothing decided or set in stone yet, but the figures being considered at the moment are 200k/year for the Spanish league and somewhat higher in the LFL.
There are some internal changes that remain undecided due to either the complexity of implementing them or because of the division of opinions on how to apply some restrictions. Some of the most striking restrictions would be the implementation of a “salary cap.” In this case, it is not a salary cap, as the word indicates to specific players, but an operational maximum that each club will be able to spend annually.
This rule is not 100% decided, but talks to implement it are progressing well in the ERLs. In the case of the Spanish Superliga, a figure of 200k/year is starting to be set as the maximum operational spending in a team, while in leagues such as the LFL, everything points to a higher figure. These figures can change widely over time, but for the moment, the priority is to find a solution to apply it legally in the country where each ERL league is located, so this change is being discussed between league organizers and teams rather than Riot, as there are different laws for each league.
