hockey's business and legal

Hockey’s Business And Legal Updates February 12 Through 18 With NHL/CHL Antitrust Lawsuit

Alec Roberson

It’s that time again when we take a look at what’s been happening in hockey’s business and legal world. Once a week we cover the big and not so big stories in this arena. We also include a featured story of the period. Let’s take a look at what has been happening this period.

Hockey’s Business and Legal News

IIHF Upholds Ban on Russian and Belarusian International Participation

The IIHF met and decided to uphold its ban on Russian and Belarusian participation in IIHF sanctioned international competition through the 2024-25 season. They will be ineligible to participate in the men’s and women’s World Championships, world juniors and U-18 competitions. Belarus will also be disqualified from the final round of the Men’s Olympic qualifier for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

NHL and Tourism Prince Edward Island Announce Multiyear Partnership

The NHL and Tourism Prince Edward Island announced a multiyear North American partnership. This means the Tourism Prince Edward Island will be the official travel destination partner of the NHL. This will provide Tourism Prince Edward Island with many marketing and advertisement opportunities as well as sponsored promotions and events throughout the NHL and NHL sanctioned events. PEI sees this as an opportunity to showcase tourism around the province.

NAHL Plans to Expand to Watertown, South Dakota

The North American Hockey League (NAHL) announced that it will be adding a new team in Watertown, South Dakota. This will be the seventh team in the league’s Central Division. This expansion comes after the town built a new ice arena in the town. The lease agreement is expected to be approved this week.

Bauer Hockey Launching At-Home Skate Sharpening Tool

Bauer Hockey announced it would be releasing an at-home skate sharpening tool in May. This product will be available through Bauer’s ProSharp brand, which Bauer purchased in 2021. Depending on pricing and accessibility, this could disrupt some of the market when it comes to rink and pro shop sharpening. But it will be a big question if it works as good as traditional sharpening, which can be a concern with alternate sharpening tools.

Milan Lucic Domestic Abuse Trial Dismissed

In a previous hockey’s business and legal updates article, we discussed that Milan Lucic was scheduled to go to trial following a domestic abuse charge related to an incident involving his wife. That charge was dropped after his wife refused to testify and invoked marital privilege. By doing so, the prosecution could not use the 911 call as evidence in the case. This meant that they did not believe they could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Lucic was guilty. “Beyond a reasonable” doubt is the legal standard for criminal convictions such as this. At this time, Lucic does not appear to be returning to the Boston Bruins even though this matter is dropped.

Hockey’s Business and Legal Updates Featured Story: NHL and CHL Hit with Antitrust Lawsuit

This week, reports indicated that the North American division of the World Association of Ice Hockey Players Unions filed a new lawsuit against the CHL and the NHL and New York. The suit alleges antitrust violations against the CHL with the NHL as a co-conspirator. While the CHL’s three leagues (OHL, WHL, QMJHL) mostly harbor Canadian teams, there are a handful of U.S. based teams in those leagues. The suit provides that the players are subject to systemic abuses, including the artificial reduction of compensation and conducting involuntary drafts, where a team can obtain an athlete’s exclusive major junior rights without the presence of a collective bargaining agreement.

The NHL infamously has an agreement with the CHL saying that CHL players drafted and signed by NHL teams that do not play in the NHL must return to the CHL if under 20. This lawsuit also alleges that the NHL is a co-conspirator with the CHL in preventing players from having the option to play in other professional leagues. Without all of the rights of employees in the CHL for its players, including the right to collectively bargain, those players are at a disadvantage. The CHL reached a settlement with former players over their previous lawsuit for employee status (we covered that in an article here) but judges refused to sign off on it.

This lawsuit is in its early stages but with all of the change affecting junior hockey including potential NCAA changes, this will be interesting to watch.

Post image attribution: By Tabercil from Canadian, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Alec Roberson

Alec Roberson grew up in coastal North Carolina, taking a somewhat unconventional path to hockey. With hockey being almost nonexistent in that area, Alec found his passion for the game following the success of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2001 and 2006 and later played club hockey in college. After going through law school and practicing for some time, he now continues his love for the game through writing. Find him on twitter @roberson_alec

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