League teams are entering the upcoming season with significantly increased player budgets. Without the promoted team Jokerit, the budgets increase by almost seven million euros in total.

The largest player budget was reported by HIFK. According to Yle, the Helsinki club is spending four million euros on players and increased its budget by as much as 850,000 euros.

Kiekko-Espoo increased its budget the most, with an increase of one million euros. Vaasan Sport’s budget, on the other hand, grew by 716,000 euros.

Kärppien’s player budget is 3.9 million euros and Tappara’s is 3.72 million. Jokerit, which returned to the league, announced its budget as approximately 3.74 million euros.

This season, the reporting of budgets has also been standardized. Clubs report the figures to the League, which verifies them. The budget includes players’ gross salaries as well as benefits in kind, such as housing and cars, and any potential bonus reserves.

The League’s CEO Mikko Pulkkinen estimates that at least half of the nearly seven million euro increase is explained by the clubs’ investments in the super season. The new way of reporting budgets also affects the comparison.

In the future, the League plans to publish the actual player budgets in the spring as well. This way, figures from different seasons can be compared more easily than before.

– I would estimate that at least half of the investments are due to the super season. The other is the standardization of this measurement and reporting method, which will certainly bring differences compared to the previous season as the reporting method changes, Pulkkinen tells Yle.

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