The players’ association sent a demand letter, the demands of which were not agreed to. SJRY takes a total of 17 different hockey organizations to be investigated by the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority.
According to SJRY’s view, the SM league is “against competition law on several grounds”. The turmoil behind the scenes of Finland’s most popular ball series continues. ELMERI ELO / AOP
Suomen Jääkiekkoilijat ry, or more familiarly the players’ association, plays with big stakes to get changes to domestic top ice hockey and its league systems.
According to the information received by Iltalehti, SJRY has decided to take the SM league, the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation and all 15 SM league clubs to the Finnish Competition and Consumer Agency for investigation.
The reason is the suspicion of an illegal cartel and abuse of a dominant market position.
At the end of February, the Players’ Association sent a letter of demand to the SM league, the Ice Hockey Federation and the league clubs, in which it demanded actions to open the SM league.
The players’ association presented three other demands in the letter:
- Including SJRY in Huippukieko’s advisory board as an equal decision-maker.
- SJRY wants to see the cooperation agreements between the Ice Hockey Federation and the League, which clarify the licensing conditions of the SM League.
- SJRY demanded that the Jääkiekkoliitto, the League and the league clubs compensate the Players’ Association for the legal expenses incurred in investigating the matter.
Yle was the first to report on the matter in February.
According to Iltalehti, SJRY will provide more details on the matter on Monday.
Iltalehti could not reach SJRY’s executives to comment on the matter.
Big fights
In the ten-page long letter, it was also stated that SJRY will take legal action if its demands are not agreed to on 8.3. by 4 p.m.
That time limit expired last Friday, and the parties have not found a consensus on the issues.
Now the matter will be taken to the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority for investigation.
The task of the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority is to monitor that companies “do not restrict competition artificially or by means of unjustified advantages”.
In this case, it will be assessed whether Jääkiekon SM-liiga oy and Jääkiekkoliitto abuse their dominant market positions, for example by preventing or endangering genuine and undistorted market competition.
Equally, it will be assessed whether the mentioned entities together with the league clubs have agreed to restrict competition in violation of the cartel prohibition.
KKV can start an investigation into suspected abuse of a dominant market position based on a request for action. A request for action can be made, for example, by a competing company.
– Abuse is typically related to excluding competitors from the market or exploiting customers, described on a general level on KKV’s website.
According to the agency, the evaluations focus on the effects of the company’s procedure on effective competition.
Finnish top ice hockey is now perhaps more heated than ever before during the existence of the SM league. The series was founded in 1975.