The 1989/90 season of the Austrian Ice Hockey League was played with eight teams. The VEU Feldkirch became champion for the fourth time in the club's history .
After the preseason, the field of participants was expanded from six to eight teams. With the KSV ice hockey club and the ATSE Graz , both the champions and the runners-up of the national league rose to the highest level. The ATSE Graz was merged in April 1990 with the UEC Graz, which had been promoted to the National League, to form the EC Graz . It was decided to use the addition ATSE only in the following season.
The eight clubs played against each other four times in the regular season. Then a play-off was played in which the 1st against the 8th, the 2nd against the 7th, the 3rd against the 6th and the 4th against the 5th of the basic round in a best-of-five Series played. The winners of these encounters played in the semi-finals (also best of five) for participation in the finals, the losers played a best-of-three series in the lower play-off, the losers in turn played a best-of-three series against relegation to the National League .