A total of ten teams contest this season's league, which began on 2 September 2016 and is scheduled to conclude in June 2017.

HC Fivers Margareten are the defending champions, having beaten Bregenz Handball 2–0 in the previous season's playoff finals.

The competition format for the 2016–17 season consists of two phases, both played in a home-and-away double round-robin system.

HSG Bärnbach/Köflach was relegated from the previous season and SC Ferlach was promoted from 2015-16 Handball Bundesliga Austria.

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff.