Show me the money!

[Only4Goalie]

20 минут назад, Axelsson сказал:

but you cant write that you should get the payment within 90 days then not keep it. if you order clothes or anything and it should take 90 days. but takes over 1 year. will you order from there again? would think that most people would not buy from that company again. and yes most of us dont even win any money. but lets take the same example again. if I order something I check trustpilot or something like that. and it says that all orders are delayed. then peaple will not order. its a bit the same here. theres still a chance that you win then you want your money after 90 days. so again pay back all the money youre behind on. then you can change the deal / rule and see if people agree to it or not.

I fully agree with every word of this text. This is a great solution to the current situation for all parties.

[Axelsson]

forgot and cant edit my old post.

from sportsgamer post : "A more detailed update about the ECL and our next steps will be shared within the next couple of days."

so atleast i will give them "couple of days"

so hopefully they have all the answers within a few days. if they dont answer all the questions about where the money has gone etc. i think this will die unfortunately.

[imosi]

Geez… people here have less patience than my 3-year-old daughter (and hers is absolutely sh**e). Looks like some of you just want drama.

People shouldn’t judge before knowing the facts! Sportsgamer promised to give more info in a couple of days, so by tomorrow (Friday) at the latest (?). Why can’t you just wait a bit and then judge when you have the facts? I understand the appropriate questions because people want answers.

I’ve known Kenu since before most of you were even born. If there’s one person in the world who would never steal your money or scam you in any way, it’s Kenu.

People seem to forget pretty fast. Remember that Kenu has done this for years and years for free. Because it is his passion. At least we owe him the chance to explain everything. 

From my point of view, maybe not all the wisest decisions have been made but the community should also take a look in the mirror. The community demanded prize pools under the threat of leaving Sportsgamer (a few years ago), and… here we are. Sportsgamer was NOT ready for this. One thing I know is that it's not easy to get a sponsor for this game.

Also, to the people here advertising other leagues: there’s a saying “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side”. It takes a lot of work to manage a league and deal with all its problems. You need to be extremely passionate about it to do it all for free.

…And before people start saying I’m taking sides, that’s not true.

Do I agree that people should receive their money asap and that the payments have taken unacceptably long? Yes.

Do I think some risky decisions were made? Yes.

Do I think Sportsgamer shouldn’t ask for more money before the old debts are paid? Yes.

I don't know why the payments haven't been made in 90 days as promised, but all I’m asking for is a little bit of patience - let them publish the info before judging.

I know for a fact that many players, including Elite players, have opinions or suggestions or are blaming SportsGamer. Why are they not opening their mouths now when it's time to speak?

That’s because the community is so toxic and they are afraid of being bullied or slaughtered. So they criticize SportsGamer in private. Man up and open your mouth if you have something to say!

Edited Thursday at 07:05 AM by imosi

[Patzlaf]

I have received prize money since they have been part of SportsGamer. That 90 day payment period has not been true after the first two years and I don't understand why it has been in the rulebook for so long. Without a doubt, the payment of the money has taken too long and I understand everyone's pain because you have to pay for this. But don't worry, you will definitely get your money! 🫡

Edited Thursday at 07:45 AM by Patzlaf

[imosi]

6 minuuttia sitten, Patzlaf kirjoitti:

I have received prize money since they have been part of SportsGamer. That 90 day payment period has not been true after the first few years and I don't understand why it has been in the rulebook for so long. Without a doubt, the payment of the money has taken too long and I understand everyone's pain because you have to pay for this. But don't worry, you will definitely get your money! 🫡

Yeah, same here. They’ve been offering the option to either receive money or pay the participation fee with the money.

Edited Thursday at 07:49 AM by imosi

[imosi]

14 minuuttia sitten, localhefe kirjoitti:

cmoon guys!! we need more patience, maybe after 5 years they have fixed the initial problem, before then stfu - or if u are elite player then speak up fokin pussies 

I’m not sure if you read my whole post, but I was talking about waiting a day or two so we hopefully have more facts.

[localhefe]

13 minuuttia sitten, imosi kirjoitti:

I’m not sure if you read my whole post, but I was talking about waiting a day or two so we hopefully have more facts.

yeah, thats why i joked about the beginning of your post and the last thing u said. i bet the new info from SG will be something like this: 

-> we hear you

-> thanks for the communication

-> times are difficult with VAT increase

-> we are eager to fix this for the future

-> lets start the szn

>>> fast forward 1 year

-> we have this problem with payments 

[imosi]

41 minuuttia sitten, localhefe kirjoitti:

yeah, thats why i joked about the beginning of your post and the last thing u said. i bet the new info from SG will be something like this: 

-> we hear you

-> thanks for the communication

-> times are difficult with VAT increase

-> we are eager to fix this for the future

-> lets start the szn

>>> fast forward 1 year

-> we have this problem with payments 

Yeah, I truly hope we get more information soon about where the money has gone and why there’s been such a delay with the payments. It’s concerning that the teams still haven’t been paid. No one should be expected to make any further payments until all debts are settled.

[iRSPe]

10 hours ago, imosi said:

I know for a fact that many players, including Elite players, have opinions or suggestions or are blaming SportsGamer. Why are they not opening their mouths now when it's time to speak?

That’s because the community is so toxic and they are afraid of being bullied or slaughtered. So they criticize SportsGamer in private. Man up and open your mouth if you have something to say!

Some people may be wondering why I disappeared from the scene after early 2024. This is my situation:

My company had unpaid invoices from SportsGamer from early 2024. A claim was filed in the District Court, and a judgment has been given. However, the enforcement authority has not been able to collect the payment from the company. There have been no updates to the situation during the past six months.

[iSvamp]

14 minuter sedan, iRSPe säger:

Some people may be wondering why I disappeared from the scene after early 2024. This is my situation:

My company had unpaid invoices from SportsGamer from early 2024. A claim was filed in the District Court, and a judgment has been given. However, the enforcement authority has not been able to collect the payment from the company. There have been no updates to the situation during the past six months.

It’s all good bro. Patzlaf has already confirmed that Sportsgamer is going to pay. 😂 Listen to the Elite players. If they refuse to believe there are any problems, then there are no problems. Just fall in line.
 

[Simbee434]

33 minuuttia sitten, iRSPe kirjoitti:

Some people may be wondering why I disappeared from the scene after early 2024. This is my situation:

My company had unpaid invoices from SportsGamer from early 2024. A claim was filed in the District Court, and a judgment has been given. However, the enforcement authority has not been able to collect the payment from the company. There have been no updates to the situation during the past six months.

Well if they cant pay invoice which is sum of 2€ to PRH you cant wait any money of them (and before you who doesn’t understand and start yelling of something about this being a lie this information is from their credit risk information). But hey new ECL season coming so get ready to pay up!

[Wpaanane]

So if sportsgamer doesn't want to pay, why stay here whining? Isn't it heading towards new disappointments and new leagues?

[Janikka]

On 15.10.2025 at 19.07, SportsGamer kirjoitti:

A more detailed update about the ECL and our next steps will be shared within the next couple of days.

[localhefe]

   

[tbnantti]

11 minutes ago, Ljunberg_99 said:

The 2 days have passed, maybe you haven't understood that no one will pay your ECL so you can eat together with the elite, no one cares about what you say, it's just bullshit, pay what you have to and then ask the community how best to pay you, but no one will give you the money in advance and we don't care about the elite players who kiss our ass because they eat from the same cake but we won't pay for them anymore, let them go and work like the rest of us

 

I didn’t read this thoroughly but something about eating ass? I’m partial. 🤝

[Edgard_gcn]

Alright bro, listen up.
The message was clear — they do have money problems. What you don’t seem to get is that when a company has financial issues — like many others around the world — delays are inevitable.

I’m not part of the staff, and honestly, I get pissed at them too. But SG is just a tiny company in the grand scheme of things. They made some mistakes, got a bit ahead of themselves, and now they’re paying for it. It happens — humans make errors.

The real issue right now is that everyone’s running their mouth, but not one of you has ever actually run a business. You don’t know what it’s like or what kind of pressure and constraints business owners deal with. It’s always easy to criticize when you’re just an employee.

And let’s be honest — thinking you could make a living off NHL or that it would really blow up? That’s kind of naive. Nobody really cares about hockey that much.

Back to the topic of companies — I know this stuff well. Nearly my entire family runs or owns international businesses (so yeah, for those drooling over the Saudi connection, now you know the truth).
But at some point — just shut up already.

There are even two alternative leagues in the works if SG doesn’t recover. But as of now, SG isn’t dead yet. And like I always say — everyone talks a big game, but you’ll all be the first ones back playing the next ECL.

You all are getting on my nerves with how ridiculous this has become. If you’re not happy, then leave — we get it.

[tbnantti]

2 minutes ago, Ljunberg_99 said:

I know it's difficult for brilliant minds like yours to understand something, I apologize to all those who have a few neurons in their brain!

 

Hey hey hey no need to cook me i just wanted to talk about things i’m passionate about

[saaggssy]

7 hours ago, Ljunberg_99 said:

The 2 days have passed, maybe you haven't understood that no one will pay your ECL so you can eat together with the elite, no one cares about what you say, it's just bullshit, pay what you have to and then ask the community how best to pay you, but no one will give you the money in advance and we don't care about the elite players who kiss our ass because they eat from the same cake but we won't pay for them anymore, let them go and work like the rest of us

 

LOL. its crazy to say noone will play ECL. like our team thinking of still joining.

My opinion -
Lets see what they decide with payments. I think player license buying is okey, but buying license for team  is not okey (2 times pay for participating) if they reduce prize pools or remove it at all. Also i think prize pools need to be only in ELITE division, because now lot of ELITE guys go PRO division, PRO goes LITE division - because easier cash out money. If someone realy want to compete for money then go ELITE and make it only moneybuisness, dont touch guys till ELITE division.

[imosi]

59 minuuttia sitten, saaggssy kirjoitti:

LOL. its crazy to say noone will play ECL. like our team thinking of still joining.

My opinion -
Lets see what they decide with payments. I think player license buying is okey, but buying license for team  is not okey (2 times pay for participating) if they reduce prize pools or remove it at all. Also i think prize pools need to be only in ELITE division, because now lot of ELITE guys go PRO division, PRO goes LITE division - because easier cash out money. If someone realy want to compete for money then go ELITE and make it only moneybuisness, dont touch guys till ELITE division.

How exactly would you fund this as it seems there is no money at all? I think there are a lot of things to sort out before even thinking of a new season. I don't mean to be rude but you have to be an absolute idiot to give more money before all this s**t is sorted out.

First step is to pay the old debts and secondly stick to the promised deadlines.

I really don't know the reason behind the lack of information but I think the longer we have to wait for more info on the finance or the new season the more it will harm Sportsgamer and the trust. 

Now everybody is making their own conclusions of what's going on and this is not a good thing at all.

[saaggssy]

What you suggest? give money to other league, to guys you dont know, if they even can run league for season long, with all what sportsgamer staff did? or just leave hockey for year and lets see what happens? you can go to ithl, and play there, no big reason to play there. I am not that poor that i have problems to buy 30 euros license for year of experience, i love what doing sportsgamer, i dont even care about this winning prizes, its so small so i dont even bother about that. I know how many hours of free time guys put it for no money, so 30 euros for subscribe is okey in my opinion. I dont know how big is your wining prize pool what you wanting, but cmon, you should work and you will not cry for delay of this amount of money.

ECL elite prize pool is something to be wanting get back others lower is like 100-200euros wining money to player or even less.. so its just making scandal for no reason here .

Edited 4 hours ago by saaggssy

[imosi]

2 minuuttia sitten, saaggssy kirjoitti:

What you suggest? give money to other league, to guys you dont know, if they even can run league for season long, with all what sportsgamer staff did? or just leave hockey for year and lets see what happens? you can go to ithl, and play there, no big reason to play there. I am not that poor that i have problems to buy 30 euros license for year of experience, i love what doing sportsgamer, i dont even care about this winning prizes, its so small so i dont even bother about that. I know how many hours of free time guys put it for no money, so 30 euros for subscribe is okey in my opinion. I dont know how big is your wining prize pool what you wanting, but cmon, you should work and you will not cry for delay of this amount of money.

First off, could you please use paragraphs? It’s honestly painful to read sometimes.

Anyway, to the point... I’m probably not gonna play anywhere, so I’ve got nothing to say about other leagues. For me, it’s not about the money it’s about principle.

Even if I do play, I’m more than happy to pay someone for their hard work. But first, all these problems need to be sorted out. Otherwise, we’ll be in the exact same situation a year from now.

And really are you willing to pay more when you know they owe money to teams and companies, like in Irspe’s case? Personally, I’m not going to.

[SportsGamer]

SportsGamer Update – Current Situation and Next Steps

Dear community,

As previously communicated, SportsGamer has faced significant financial challenges over the past few years.

Despite these difficulties, we remain committed to meeting our obligations to our players, contributors, and the wider community — and to ensuring the ECL’s continued future.

Prize Payment Plan

We have established a payment plan to settle the delayed ECL ’25: Winter and ECL ’25: Spring prize payouts in four installments:

• October 30: 50% of ECL ’25: Winter prizes
• November 14: remaining 50% of ECL ’25: Winter prizes
• December 15: 50% of ECL ’25: Spring prizes
• December 30: remaining 50% of ECL ’25: Spring prizes

The first installment will be processed at the end of October, and we are committed to following this schedule in full.

Players and teams with pending payments are being contacted directly to confirm details. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we complete this process in full transparency.

We are also in contact with our long-time contributors and partners to address outstanding matters and keep everyone who has supported SportsGamer’s operations informed.

For any ECL ‘25: Spring winners wondering: It is possible to use your prize money to purchase an ECL ‘26: Winter license already in November, even if the payments are scheduled to take place in December.

 

ECL ’26 Season Schedule and Pre-Season Tournament

Next week, we will announce the ECL ’26: Winter season schedule and open registration.

However, license fee collection will not begin until after November 16.

Before the new season officially begins, we will also host a free ECL Pre-Season tournament, open to all players and teams.

The goal is to give everyone the opportunity to play, reconnect with the community, and enjoy competitive games without any entry fees.

Prize Pool Structure and Transparency

For the ECL ’26 Winter season, at least 35% of net license-fee income (after VAT and transaction fees) will be paid out as prize money.
The remaining funds will cover operational and production costs and support the continued stabilization of our operations.

The initial prize pool estimate will be published before the start of the season, based on confirmed registrations at that time.
If additional licenses are purchased during the season, the final prize pool will be adjusted accordingly and disclosed once all registrations are complete.

For players with full-year licenses, their contribution will be divided evenly between the Winter and Spring seasons.

To maintain transparency, we will share the total net license income with the community after each season.

Addressing Community Concerns

• SportsGamer operates in full compliance with Finnish corporate law.
   
• The 2023 financial statement has been completed and will be officially filed once the review and approval process is finalized, while the 2024 financial statement is currently being prepared.
   
• Accounting and auditing are managed by an independent accounting firm and a certified auditor.
   
• No shareholder has taken any profit or withdrawal from the company at any point. Kenneth Lehtinen received a salary for his operational work until December 2024.
   
• The company has operated at a loss throughout its history, funded by shareholder investments.
   
• The company is also pursuing opportunities to strengthen its financial position and secure the long-term future of the ECL.

Summary

Our goal is to rebuild trust through concrete actions.

SportsGamer was founded on passion and community spirit, and we want to ensure that future ECL seasons continue delivering a high-quality and sustainable competitive experience for all players.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to engage with us and share constructive feedback as we work to move forward together.


– SportsGamer Leadership Team

[stimperi]

Just stop with this ”prize” nonsense. After taxes you are paying maybe 20% back to the teams as ”prizes”, unless you have external debtors which of course go first in line. False hope for ”prizes” only gets it worse.

 

The first law of holes states, that if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

 

 

[Janikka]

Thanks for the update.

Are there any plans to transition into a more bare-bones platform with decreased additional content? Sorry if you've already mentioned this and I missed it.

I do give credit to Kenu and the rest of the staff for making the presentation and broadcasts so much more polished and professional. SG has come far from the days when I was co-hosting streams with Kenu and spilling water all over his tech equipment. However, I believe saving money on this type of content (broadcasts, articles, whatever it is) and just focusing on the core platform would make the whole operation more sustainable.

I believe that 99% of the scene probably doesn't even care about that content, no matter how much it has improved. The bulk of the community payments comes from the sheer number of Lite teams, right? I think most people are only paying the ever-increasing price of entry because everyone else is playing in the ECL, and people are mainly interested in joining teams that participate in the competitive leagues and tournaments. Basically, if you don't pay for the player and license fees, you are reduced to a casual-only player and left out of the scene. You have nothing to play for unless you're content playing just for fun. Is the game itself good enough without the rush of competitive play? I'm not so sure.

Most people really only need the core platform: the hosting and organizing of leagues, the team and player management, the statistics system, the conflict resolution by admins, etc.

I understand the push for better broadcasts, articles, and other content. After all, it not only looks better and makes the whole operation feel bigger and more meaningful, but greater engagement should also bring greater numbers. That should translate into better visibility, attract better sponsorship deals, garner more revenue and result in continued growth. But perhaps that is not realistic at the end of the day? The user count has grown a lot, but the revenue streams apparently haven't. Or if they did, they seem to have dried out.

The core problem may be the actual game that this whole operation is based on. Not only is the NHL series rather stagnant and not very well-designed around competitive play, it continues to be quite niche in the grand scheme of things. As a conspicuous example, most of the active followers on the streams seem to be players in the scene, which is in contrast to big esports games where you have mass viewership and plenty of fan activity around the players and organizers themselves.

I truly commend Kenu and the other people behind SG on their beautiful vision and the hard work they have put into realizing it over the years. Some years ago, doing the streams with Kenu, I personally got to see him behind the scenes juggling multiple things at once while going all out to give us the best experience possible. I hope he continues at the helm through all of this despite the thankless position that he now finds himself in. I honestly believe that he's the most passionate and committed person for the task, and we are lucky to have him.

But maybe it's time to scale back?

As an irrelevant aside, I'm kind of baffled by what the internet has become. It's like half the people are communicating through glorified predictive text algorithms, resulting in a back-and-forth of em dashes interspersed with the algorithms' rote attempts at engaging the reader. I miss when people wrote in broken English, but with their own authentic thoughts behind every word. I know I've become the old man yelling at the cloud, but I'll take it.

[Grizzly17]

48 minutes ago, SportsGamer said:

SportsGamer Update – Current Situation and Next Steps

Dear community,

As previously communicated, SportsGamer has faced significant financial challenges over the past few years.

Despite these difficulties, we remain committed to meeting our obligations to our players, contributors, and the wider community — and to ensuring the ECL’s continued future.

Prize Payment Plan

We have established a payment plan to settle the delayed ECL ’25: Winter and ECL ’25: Spring prize payouts in four installments:

• October 30: 50% of ECL ’25: Winter prizes
• November 14: remaining 50% of ECL ’25: Winter prizes
• December 15: 50% of ECL ’25: Spring prizes
• December 30: remaining 50% of ECL ’25: Spring prizes

The first installment will be processed at the end of October, and we are committed to following this schedule in full.

Players and teams with pending payments are being contacted directly to confirm details. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we complete this process in full transparency.

We are also in contact with our long-time contributors and partners to address outstanding matters and keep everyone who has supported SportsGamer’s operations informed.

For any ECL ‘25: Spring winners wondering: It is possible to use your prize money to purchase an ECL ‘26: Winter license already in November, even if the payments are scheduled to take place in December.

 

ECL ’26 Season Schedule and Pre-Season Tournament

Next week, we will announce the ECL ’26: Winter season schedule and open registration.

However, license fee collection will not begin until after November 16.

Before the new season officially begins, we will also host a free ECL Pre-Season tournament, open to all players and teams.

The goal is to give everyone the opportunity to play, reconnect with the community, and enjoy competitive games without any entry fees.

Prize Pool Structure and Transparency

For the ECL ’26 Winter season, at least 35% of net license-fee income (after VAT and transaction fees) will be paid out as prize money.
The remaining funds will cover operational and production costs and support the continued stabilization of our operations.

The initial prize pool estimate will be published before the start of the season, based on confirmed registrations at that time.
If additional licenses are purchased during the season, the final prize pool will be adjusted accordingly and disclosed once all registrations are complete.

For players with full-year licenses, their contribution will be divided evenly between the Winter and Spring seasons.

To maintain transparency, we will share the total net license income with the community after each season.

Addressing Community Concerns

• SportsGamer operates in full compliance with Finnish corporate law.
   
• The 2023 financial statement has been completed and will be officially filed once the review and approval process is finalized, while the 2024 financial statement is currently being prepared.
   
• Accounting and auditing are managed by an independent accounting firm and a certified auditor.
   
• No shareholder has taken any profit or withdrawal from the company at any point. Kenneth Lehtinen received a salary for his operational work until December 2024.
   
• The company has operated at a loss throughout its history, funded by shareholder investments.
   
• The company is also pursuing opportunities to strengthen its financial position and secure the long-term future of the ECL.

Summary

Our goal is to rebuild trust through concrete actions.

SportsGamer was founded on passion and community spirit, and we want to ensure that future ECL seasons continue delivering a high-quality and sustainable competitive experience for all players.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to engage with us and share constructive feedback as we work to move forward together.


– SportsGamer Leadership Team

Firstly…. Thank you for coming back to us as promised. I welcome the fact that you are trying to make a start to fixing the problem.

It is incredibly concerning how you have managed to get into this position… in the past couple days, I’ve only realised how dire the situation really is…

1. Not Paid Winter 25

2. Not Paid Spring 25

3. Outstanding invoices from people such as iRSPe…

This now leads me onto my next point…. All that I see written is just words which I hope you will do everything you can to fulfil. 

Is there any possibility that we can have some kind of assurance. Maybe figures for last year? Breakdown of expenses? And how you are going to become financially stable for the future?

I’m also concerned about how you will pay back other teams from previous tournaments… does this mean winners of ECL 26 Winter will have to wait 12 months to see any money… In the UK… we call it “Robbing Peter to pay Paul”. Hopefully you understand the saying.

When a community doesn’t trust anymore, it’s a matter of proving what you are actively doing to fix the situation and how it got to that point. If you can show that what you are claiming above is correct, then I’m pretty sure the whole community would actually try to help you as much as possible to clear it up…. 
 

I will lastly say this…. Things don’t add up… I have to make the hard decision with my team as to whether I play in ECL or look elsewhere. ECL has been great but I’m not convinced cost cutting measures have really been done optimally if the situation has been like this for a while (which it must have been as there is still Winter prize money outstanding). How much did it cost for Reactiomedia to host the ECL finals and was that the cheapest option available?

Again, appreciate you coming out to us. You’ve hit a lot of points but really need some assurance from you to prove you are fixing the problem than just saying it as a money grab for next season.