Lokomotiv Yaroslavl top KHL's record revenue payout
KHL will pay clubs a record 2.36bn roubles for 2025/26, with champions Lokomotiv Yaroslavl receiving the largest share at 215.9 million.
The Kontinental Hockey League will pay its clubs a record 2.36 billion roubles for the 2025/26 season, the league's press service has confirmed. The exact figure, including VAT, is 2,364,825,558 roubles — up from 2 billion the year before.
The pool is built from television and betting-rights revenue, together with targeted deductions from gambling operators channelled through Russia's unified gambling regulator. Thirty per cent of the total is shared out in proportion to each club's sporting results. The remaining 70% follows a nine-part club rating, covering arena attendance, timely payment of players' wages, ticket and catering income, media work and television reach, among other measures.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, champions after winning last season's Gagarin Cup, take the largest cheque at 215.9 million roubles. Ak Bars Kazan, beaten Gagarin Cup finalists, follow on 175.9 million. The rest of the list:
- Metallurg Magnitogorsk — 155.3 million
- Avangard Omsk — 147 million
- Salavat Yulaev Ufa — 107.3 million
- Tractor Chelyabinsk — 107.2 million
- CSKA Moscow — 104 million
- Dynamo Moscow — 98.9 million
- — 97.6 million
- — 93.1 million
- Dynamo Minsk — 92 million
- — 91.4 million
- — 90 million
- Spartak Moscow — 89.4 million
- — 77.4 million
- — 74.7 million
- — 54.6 million
- — 47.2 million
- — 46.2 million
- Barys Astana — 44.1 million
- Sochi — 40.4 million
- Shanghai Dragons — 18.9 million
Shanghai Dragons, who despite the name are based in St Petersburg, sit last on the list. Tractor Chelyabinsk's 107.2 million comes days after the club re-signed forward Nikita Soshnikov through 2026/27.
The league has recommended clubs put the money toward arena upgrades, better service for spectators and events aimed at drawing in fans. A further 544.5 million roubles goes directly to youth sports schools, both those attached to KHL and MHL clubs and independent ones. The revenue-sharing scheme itself dates back to the 2014/15 season, and this is its twelfth payment.
Barys and Salavat Yulaev, two names on this year's list, met in Astana on 9 September, where the hosts won 8:6 — a result covered in our prediction (/en/hockey/prediction/barys-astana-salavat-ufa-2026-09-09-4095/) and match report (/en/hockey/event/barys-astana-salavat-ufa-2026-09-09_1387108/).
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