Introduction to Special Issue: The Progress of Elite Ice Hockey, Beyond NHL: A Focus on (G)local culture(s), Migration, Entrepreneurship, Americanization and Oligarchism. Guest Editors: Bo Carlsson, Jyri Backman and Tobias Stark

The article is set to target several tensions, problems and possibilities in Finnish (and Nordic) men’s elite ice hockey, which have arisen due to increasing commercialization and professionalization. This process has accelerated simultaneously with the recent development and advances of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), in addition to the constant and general influences of NHL (i.e., Americanization). Thus, the essay will focus on Jokerit as an illustrative case. To state, Jokerit, founded in 1967, is a powerhouse in Finnish ice hockey, both sport- ingly and financially. The commercialization of Finnish elite ice hockey culminated in 2014/2015 when Jokerit joined KHL. This article reflects on Jokerit’s financial and legal challenges, as well as the commercial press and progress in Nordic elite ice hockey and thus on Jokerit’s drift towards KHL. In addition to these topics, the essay presents and discusses different aspects of the progress of KHL, as well as its reasons and consequences.

SHL and the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation stand as the principal force or engine behind the commercialization processes in Swedish sport, due to influences from the commercial culture of NHL (i.e., the ‘Americanization’ of sport and society). In addition, the impact of the KHL with regard to player migration has forced the league to look for new commercial alternatives and forms of organization. At the same time, Swedish sport in general is, like ice hockey, basically founded on and ruled by the hegemony of the Swedish Sports Confederation and its basically idealistic values. Thus, SHL is shaped by normative dualism as well as by an incipient commercialization process. The ambition of the following text in this respect is to describe and analyze this dilemma by applying the concepts of juridification and hybridity, in addition to providing general perspectives on the Americanization processes in ice hockey and by testing and illustrating this dilemma by the case of the Växjö Lakers, Ltd/Plc.

An introduction to a theme issue of the journal Sport in Society, in which the relationship between science and sports are being scrutinized from different perspectives.

Sport's relation to society could be grasped in its connection to science. Thus, there seem to exist two parallel processes: the scientification of sport and the sportification of science. Undoubtedly, science has become an important part in the development of sport, particularly in elite sport. As regards the relation between science and sport, an opposite trend has also been observed, in which sport logic influences the (popular) presentation of science. In this respect, this essay talks about the 'sportification of science', by making reference to 'Science Slam' and 'Grand Prix in Science'.

Sport has developed into an essential phenomenon in popular culture and in (post)modern society, and seems to have, which is the rational of this essay, a great deal to tell us about human life and (post)modernity. The process of sportification of popular culture is the main thrust of the argument, as well as presenting an alternative strategy for the study and understanding of the relationship between sport and society, and the influence and impact of sport. The essay does not focus on various added values, such as integration, health and economic growth. Neither is the ambition to present society’s impact on sport logics. The essay analyses, as an alternative, sport as a general (mental) horizon in society. It focuses on the sportification of popular culture, and specifically on the television reality show called Masterchef. The essay conceptualises docusoaps in light of the phenomenon of sport. In a wider perspective, initial attempts at sportification of science are also considered. Given the observed amalgamation of sport with the entertainment industry, the essay argues for a revitalisation of Guttmann’s theses, and suggests a broadened concept, in line with ‘from ritual to event(ification)’.