The Ice Hockey Championship League delighted ice hockey fans in October when it announced that the series will open to competition with the qualifiers from spring 2025.
Vice judge Olli Rausteen The closed series did not withstand the legality review from the point of view of competition law.
Soon the joy turned to disbelief when the conditions for the ascent became clear. According to various information, the share required for the SM league costs 3.6–3.8 million euros.
The presidents of the clubs have estimated that it would cost up to 10 million euros to move up from the second highest league level, Mestis, to the SM league.
The Jokerit, which returned to the domestic puck rinks in Mesti, announced in November that it is not going to apply for promotion for the 2025–2026 season, because the promotion would be too expensive at the current league share price.
SM league clubs have questioned the series and license systems. The latest to join the group of critics was the Jääkiekko player’s association SJRY, which on Thursday criticized the changes to the current series system as insufficient.
The association demanded negotiations on the series system and even hinted at the possibility of legal action if the negotiations do not yield results.
League clubs are covered by the Competition Act
Research manager of the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (KKV). Hannu Raatikainen says that he does not know the position of the players’ association.
According to him, the players’ association or other dissatisfied party could refer to Section 5 of the Competition Act, which deals with e.g. contracts of competing traders. SM league clubs are economic operators, so they are covered by the Competition Act.
– Agreements between competitors that limit competition are prohibited under the Competition Act, unless it can be shown that they cause more benefit than harm, says Raatikainen.
For example in 2019 KKV considered that the SM League and its 15 clubs acted in violation of Finnish and EU competition legislation when they had agreed not to hire players from the Jokers who played in the KHL during the season or play practice matches with the team.
In the 1990s, Joensuu’s Kataja Basket applied for a place in the main basketball league, and the Finnish Competition Authority issued a statement in the matter, according to which a closed league is not legal in Finland in principle.
Of course, the league clubs must agree on things that are necessary for sports and the sport. These include, for example, the match schedule and the rules of the game.
– They are very firmly related to sports rules, which are not considered to be in violation of the competition legislation in principle.
Case by case
In sports, it is also possible to agree on matters whose connection to sporting factors is more vague than the rules of the sport.
Raatikainen takes, for example, the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union from 2006 in the so-called Meca-Medina case, where two swimmers convicted of doping appealed to the European Commission about their suspension.
The EU court ruled that banning the use of doping substances in swimming was not a restriction of competition, but at the same time emphasized that EU competition legislation takes precedence over the rules of sports federations.
The case is still used as an example in matters concerning sports and competition law, where the sporting goals of a procedure are central.
– Doping rules can be seen to have significant goals in terms of sports. The use of doping results in a ban from competition. But of course it also has a limiting effect. A banned athlete cannot participate in competitions.
– Still, it is necessary for sports to impose such prohibitions, as long as they are necessary and proportionate to the offense. In this way, other procedures can be evaluated, Raatikainen explains.
In a sporting sense, it is justified to demand a certain sporting and financial level from a team playing in the SM league.
– In these, it is necessary to examine on a case-by-case basis whether criteria are set that are, for example, too strict, in which case they practically prevent promotion, and are not proportionate and necessary to achieve athletic goals. This is the framework in which these cases are typically evaluated, Raatikainen says.
Can the SM league invoke a section of the competition law to justify the current series and license system?
– Yes, it can rely on the fact that there is a sporting goal in the background and that these criteria and conditions are proportionate and necessary in relation to the goal.
Before possible processing in the market court, the case would first end up being investigated by the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority.
– Procedures are always evaluated on a case-by-case basis. It is completely impossible to say in advance how it would end. This is about the application of the Competition Act.