The SM league unexpectedly decided that the search for a license that enables a place in the main series will start already for next season. According to a well-known sports lawyer, the limited company did not really have any other legal option.
Ice hockey-Finland shook on Wednesday morning. The SM league had previously announced that it is not possible to apply for a license to the main league before the 2025–26 season, but now the announcement said that a club that wants a league place can already submit its application for next season.
Primarily, it concerns Mesti’s reigning champion Kiekko-Espoo. The background characters of the new Mestis team Jokers said that the application is not yet being prepared for the 2024–25 season.
Kiekko-Espoo will talk more about their possible league project this week. On Wednesday, the lawyer who represented the SM league joint-stock company and the competition authorities in the matter did not want to give any comments.
Instead, a well-known sports law scholar, against the closed SM league deputy judge who spoke often and strongly Olli Rauste took a stand on the SM league’s surprise announcement.
“Known for 28 years”
– In the SM league, from a legal point of view, a spoon has been taken into a beautiful hand. The closed operating model of the league joint-stock company does not withstand a legality review from the point of view of competition law. This has actually been known for 28 years. At that time, 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 principle in Finland, Rauste commented to Urheilu.
According to Raustee, many have mistakenly imagined that the incorporation of the SM league into a limited company in 2000 would also have legally enabled the series to be kept as a closed club. In the league’s own supplement procedure, Vaasan Sport, Mikkeli Jukurit and Kouvola’s KooKoo have previously been admitted to the SM league.
– That’s not how it is. A joint stock company cannot be forced to accept new shareholders, but that is not the point. Incorporation does not justify not giving the SM league product also to, for example, Kiekko-Espoo, if the club meets the criteria.
According to Raustee, this is where you can find the Finnish Competition Authority’s preliminary decision on, for example, the taxi industry.
– There was a situation where the entrepreneur had to belong to the taxi drivers’ association in order to receive orders from the call center. The entrepreneur, who got into trouble in some way, was banned from the association and could no longer get rides through the call center.
– The competition authorities decided that the call center must also provide rides to non-members of the association. In other words, membership in a limited company or association is a completely different thing than who has the right to use a monopoly service. The association and the limited company are treated as legally similar legal entities.
SM league said on Wednesday on his website part of their license criteria, above all, which conditions must be met in order to be able to apply for a position. The current license model was created in 2018.
– I am fairly convinced that they do not want to publish the license conditions down to the very last detail. The reason is probably that not even all the current partners fulfill them, Rauste estimates.
A favorable decision
Professor of sports law at the University of Turku and University of Helsinki, at one time defended competition and contract law Antti Aine considered the SM league’s decision positive. Like Rauste, he is an active member of the Sports Association.
– I believe that the solution is better than the previous one, even though we still don’t know exactly under what conditions and mechanisms one can get into the SM league. In any case, this enables the European sports model to be better implemented in Finland than before.
As a closed club, the SM League has been a very unusual sports series in Europe.
– In my view, this decision opens up opportunities to develop the market in the future and is undoubtedly a positive thing, Aine states.