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Ah, finally, the Einsteins have arrived. Always fascinating how the self-proclaimed business experts show up the moment someone mentions accountability. Let’s make this simple. The issue isn’t about understanding business models, it’s about a company that doesn’t pay out prize money that players have rightfully earned. That’s not a cashflow issue, that’s a breach of trust. If you buy a lottery ticket and win, you expect your winnings. You don’t expect to wait twelve months and be told to be patient because the organizer spent your money somewhere else. What you’re describing isn’t business, it’s mismanagement dressed up as martyrdom. “Thousands of free hours,” “small business struggles,” “support the community”… it’s the same emotional violin every time. Meanwhile, players who paid to participate are left with nothing but excuses. So please, spare us the hero speech. This isn’t a charity, it’s a paid competition. And when the house stops paying out, it stops being a game —> it becomes a scam

thats true, most of the people crying here dont have a fukin clue how business model works, and how small is business if u make about 100k after taxes, even if u make millions or hundreds millions u can bankrupt easily if cashflow is empty, KENU has done FOR US thousands hours free label to make us cry babes happy, sure desperate ppl makes desperate moves, but it is so easy to shout here after things go wrong, in small business only one bad move or risk with money can bankrupt u, and does ppl really thinks that maintance is free, everything cost smth, and when u are small, u really cant pay much ppl for content here in website example etc... I THANK KENU AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO HAVE ENABLE US THIS HOBBY FOR YEARS n YEARS, every hobby cost smth, this is hobby not smth u earn your living... instead hitting man on the ground lets support community which has give us so much past 15y... TACK OCH HEJ !!!

Free Agent! Can play many positions, preferably RW but anything is possible. Contact me here or on discord - troublemakingswe_

Im playing here not for prize pool, but for fun and competition, so for me, free league is not a problem, every prize pool win only elites, top pros, or pros who goes lite :D. so i am pretty sure 90% of players never winned prize pool so to put it out like its only why we play and its only what hold us together ir bs. different is that sportagamer adiminstration wants profit, thats other story, and of course you dont want to do stuff for free puting soul and time in to community what is not profitable just for idea. yeah but we are paying for running this community with our licenses so maybe dont need to make your salarys up to the roof, and just profit as much to make sportsgamer work stable , its like about everything - if you got money from customer, then be ready to give back wining prizes or something to customer like product why we pay?, if you just take money and dont give nothing to customer its scaming, and its law breaking customer rights and also if you are charity organisation, "we are living just what you donate" then offering license prices is again breaking law. So it just big scam for now i see.I was thinking we pay licenses so sportsgamer could work and so on, but now seems like its not enough, our someone wants so much money to steal or what, and its not anymore like community of gamers, but trying to be some big company what is stealing all money and then go bankrupt.

All financial statements should be sent to PRH by every limited liability companies in Finland: https://prh.fi/fi/index.html These documents are public so they can be bought from that PRH site. From those documents you should be able to see where the money goes in every company whose financial statements are sent there including Sportsgamer. 2025 is not there yet because the financial year is 1.1-31.12. so 2025 information should be there in next spring but 2023 and 2024 should be there already.

Can we get the financial results and statements for the years 2023 and 2024?

just started a new club called Dynamite Sharks and we are going to play neo/core Right now we are loking for RW LW LD RD G contact me here or on my discord. the_sy5tem

I know! But I can't edit it! (for real) 😅

My pronouns are he/him. But thanks for the compliment and for breaking down the numbers like you just did.

Hello SportsGamer Team, Thank you for your transparency regarding the current situation of the ECL. I understand the financial difficulties you are facing and appreciate your efforts to keep the league running. However, I would like to share my opinion regarding the licenses and prize pools. Personally, I am not willing to pay the same license fee if the cash prizes are reduced for the 2026 seasons. The size of the prize pools is a key part of the competitive experience and is part of the value I expect as a player. I remain interested in the ECL and would like to continue participating, but I believe it is fair that the license fee reflects the rewards being offered. Thank you for taking my feedback into account in your decisions for the future of the ECL. Best regards,

This calculation has been around the community for a while. From what I remember, it was based on the license setup and pricing during NHL 24, using the actual number of teams per division that year. It also includes both Winter and Spring seasons, plus the officially announced prize pools. 💰 Original Community Estimate Elite 💳 Player Licenses: 6 players × 16 teams × 40 € = 3,840 € 🏒 Team Licenses: 16 teams × 1,000 € = 16,000 € 💰 Total Revenue: 19,840 € 🏆 Prize Pool: 18,920 € 📈 SportsGamer Profit: 920 € Pro 💳 Player Licenses: 8 players × 32 teams × 40 € = 10,240 € 🏒 Team Licenses: 32 teams × 700 € = 22,400 € 💰 Total Revenue: 32,640 € 🏆 Prize Pool: 6,192 € 📈 SportsGamer Profit: 26,448 € Lite 💳 Player Licenses: 8 players × 64 teams × 40 € = 20,480 € 🏒 Team Licenses: 64 teams × 400 € = 25,600 € 💰 Total Revenue: 46,080 € 🏆 Prize Pool: 6,261 € 📈 SportsGamer Profit: 39,819 € Core 💳 Player Licenses: 8 players × 48 teams × 40 € = 15,360 € 🏒 Team Licenses: 48 teams × 222 € = 10,656 € 💰 Total Revenue: 26,016 € 🏆 Prize Pool: 1,980 € 📈 SportsGamer Profit: 24,036 € Total (Top 4 Divisions) 💰 Total Revenue: 124,576 € 🏆 Total Prize Pool: 33,353 € 📈 SportsGamer Profit: 91,223 € Summary: Only 26.7% of all money collected actually went back to the players. The remaining 73.3% stayed with SportsGamer. And as many of us know, some teams were even offered to skip their prize payout entirely, in exchange for having it deducted from their next season’s license fee. Which, while fair on paper, doesn’t change the percentages above. What SportsGamer Said Themselves Their official statement in the thread said: “Following a later decision that reclassified the licenses under a higher rate, SportsGamer has been required to apply 24–25.5% VAT, which has significantly increased our costs and placed a heavy strain on our finances. In practice, this means that of the total amount paid for licenses, roughly 20% goes to taxes, about 50% to prize payments, and around 30% to operational costs.” So, let’s recalculate using their own explanation. According to Their Claimed Distribution (20% / 50% / 30%) Category Amount (€) Share Total Revenue 124,576 € 100 % Taxes (≈20%) 24,915 € 20 % Prize Money (50%) 62,288 € 50 % Operational Costs (30%) 37,373 € 30 % Total 124,576 € 100 % Comparison Source Total Revenue (€) Prize Pool (€) % to Players Difference Community Estimate 124,576 € 33,353 € 26.7 % — SportsGamer’s Own Claim 124,576 € 62,288 € 50.0 % +23.3 % If we take their numbers at face value, it would mean that half of all collected money went back to players. Which sounds great — except that it clearly didn’t. The official prize pools are nowhere near that. Their own math completely contradicts the public data. Even if we assume 20% VAT was paid (fair enough), that still leaves about 99,660 € within the company. Out of that, according to their statement, 62,288 € should’ve gone to prizes. But the actual amount distributed was 33,353 €. That’s a gap of roughly 28,935 € per season, using their own claimed figures. If their 20 / 50 / 30 split was real: The tax is fine, it’s part of the license cost anyway. The prize pool should’ve been closer to 62,000 €, not 33,000 €. About 29,000 € per season is simply unaccounted for. So the question becomes even more obvious: where did the money go? And when they now say that no salary has been paid to Kenu since December 2024, it raises even more questions. Because if no salary was paid, the money clearly isn’t showing up as prizes, taxes, or operating costs either. As Janikka said perfectly in her post: "have questions about the current organizational or ownership dynamics. A company called Reactio Media is or was somehow involved (as evidenced by the current Twitch account that hosts all the SportsGamer streams). I can't find any pertinent information about the company online, but its owners are involved in various companies whose background information is available." This whole thing didn’t clarify anything , it just made it all look even more suspicious. At this point, the picture being painted is less of a struggling company… and more of a pyramid-shaped business model. I’m not a mathematician, and I’m not an economist. But what’s certain is that the total amount of paid licenses adds up more or less correctly. It’s everything else that doesn’t add up.

I hope everyone understands this, but that’s not the real issue here. When a they publicly states that 50% of fees go directly to the prize pool, then that money legally can’t be redirected elsewhere. If it is, that’s not just bad business it's potentially illegal. Even if they have some clause in the terms to justify it, it's still skating the line of what's legally and ethically acceptable.

LA can just make a poll here for 1-2 weeks. Let’s say have every ability as an option there and everyone gets to vote for each one of them to be banned or not banned. LA can then make their decision based on these poll results. For example if 3-4 abilities rose clearly above others in the voting then ban those. It’s not a perfect solution. But it’s pretty close to the best one available. I have my own opinions on which abilities should be banned (truc, unstoppable etc), but once there’s an official decision made (especially by voting like this) I would have nothing to complain about it, even if it wouldn’t align with my own preference.

Yeah, I dont think covering this with more license fees can work. For the vast majority, it was something to swallow in the first place that the average mid-tier gamer pays licences that mostly fund the elite teams prizes. Didnt that reduce players already when you started to hike up the license fees? But I do hope that the league can come out of this, and re-establish itself as a gaming platform first and foremost. People are willing to pay a fair fee for operating what the website offers (stats and standings first and foremost) and people like the competition and established team base. That is what this site does well.

This is a great post, full stop. Valid questions and research all around and count me in amongst those who would like to know the answers. One thing I would like to note is that sometimes with these things (companies in financial difficulty etc.), there are binding contracts (including NDAs) that prevent people within the company/organization from speaking out on certain topics or providing full transparency. I have no idea what the situation is in this particular case, just something to keep in mind as we await further communication and clarification.

All of you acting like you’re in a scam: just stop. Just like any small business can go bankrupt, so does SportsGamer. If they didn’t succeed in landing big sponsors then it’s extremely hard to maintain profitability when your only cash revenue is license fees & investors pumping money into the system. I can’t blame Kenu & other shareholders for trying to make money with SportsGamer but perhaps a steady cashflow would have needed to be secured in order to do big live events or celebrity live streams. I bet that’s why the license fees have gone straight to the operational costs and not the prize pools. I hope SportsGamer goes back to being an esports platform with small fees to cover operational costs only. Elite teams can play for prize pools if they wish.

Is this situation even legal? I would assume no (obviously). if they can ban players for breaking the rules, they should also face consequences when they break their own rules and the law.

I just want to know… if ”in practice” 50% goes to prize payments, which they never did. WHERE DID THE MONEY WENT? I dont care about fking few bucks but im not going to fund this shit no more, I dont like liars. Not sorry for being blunt.

I think this thread speaks for itself quite clearly - it is subjective to players as to which perks are ”op” and which are not. Therefore I think the logical conclusion is to either ban all abilities, which I think worked well last year when it was tried, or not ban anything. All middle ground is more or less dependent on who is asked, or who can make their voice the loudest.

My point was if it’s pay for sportsgamer and not be guaranteed prize money vs a free league. I maybe didn’t make that clear in what I wrote

I believe that atleast 90% of players would not only be ok with but to actually prefer having tournament without any prize pools and with low entry fees. Only the best of the best asked for this nonsense and everybody gets to pay for them.

So… I not long ago, I made a post about wanting sportsgamer to be successful as that’s in the best interests of all of us to play competitive hockey. I also made it clear that I would like to see clarity in the reasons why payments haven’t been sent out in a timely manner and how the inner workings of sportsgamer operate…. Many others have asked for the same. I am disappointed that you have been given the opportunity to come out and just tell us exactly what’s going on…. This recent post you have written seems like you’ve told us what you want us to know to limit damage rather than telling us what we need to know. let’s make this simple…. what are the main reasons we choose sportsgamer and fees attached? 1. competitive hockey 2. thrill of potentially winning prize. those are the 2 biggest reasons we play alongside community etc…. If one of those 2 factors goes away… it makes the whole competition worthless….. we might as well play in a free league…. That’s currently the cross-roads people are at…. There are teams that haven’t been given THEIR earnings…. It makes it incredibly hard to retain trust in sportsgamer

Thank you Janikka and Imosi! 👑

Thank you for your openness and honesty, but I have many questions running through my mind. Who are these shareholders? The company’s board includes the same people who can be found online linked to several other companies, such as Sportsgamer, Pureevents, Street Games, etc. Why haven’t the “owners” paid salaries or agreed compensations to the employees? Why should we, as a community, pay the debts of very questionable owners? I would really appreciate an honest explanation of this situation. Right now, everything looks very suspicious. I’m sorry for being so blunt. I truly appreciate you, Kenu, and I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for the community, but sometimes we just have to face the facts. I don’t know whose responsibility this is, but I strongly recommend fixing the financial situation before asking the community for more money or alternatively, turning the whole ECL into a free service with a small participation fee, like €5 per person. No prize money should be awarded until the finances are clearly in order. At the moment, it feels like you’re asking the community to pay off a debt that has accumulated over the years, and that’s simply not right. I’m not blaming anyone personally, but the whole ownership situation seems very shady right now.

I have questions about the current organizational or ownership dynamics. A company called Reactio Media is or was somehow involved (as evidenced by the current Twitch account that hosts all the SportsGamer streams). I can't find any pertinent information about the company online, but its owners are involved in various companies whose background information is available. https://www.proff.fi/yrityksen/sports-gamer-oy/espoo/kuntosalit-ja-muu-urheilu/3192899-5I10L8 Here is some information on SportsGamer where we find those two names, the Salutskijs, that are involved in various companies, including SportsGamer today. Before I pay for any license or other fees to anyone, I want full transparency on the ownership. Who are these guys? What exactly does their involvement in SportsGamer entail? Some of the companies they are involved in have notably high turnover rates (which in no way guarantees that these companies are profitable, of course, but it's an interesting detail). Is some of the money SportsGamer collects from the community going to the Salutskijs somehow, despite your financial breakdown in the official update? Have the Salutskijs contributed to the finances of SportsGamer at any point? https://pureevents.fi/ota-yhteytta/ I also found this, a company called Pure Events. Perhaps formerly known as Reactio Media? The contact page includes the Salutskijs and some people who are much more familiar to us here on SportsGamer. So, my attempted sleuthing is all over the place, as you can see. I'm just confused about the big picture. I am not leveling any accusations. I just want information. What's going on behind the scenes?