Athlete Eligibility Requirements and Legal Issues

Abstract

This chapter is based on Matthew J. Mitten and Timothy Davis, Athlete Eligibility Requirements and Legal Protection of Sports Participation Opportunities, 8 VA. SPORTS & ENT. L. J. 71 (2009), with updating to reflect significant legal developments since its publication, and it will be published in the forthcoming Handbook on International Sports Law (2d. ed.) (James A. R. Nafziger & Ryan Gauthier, eds.) (Edward Elgar Publishing 2021). It compares and examines the existing legal frameworks governing athletic eligibility rules and dispute resolution processes for Olympic and international sports as well as United States professional, college, and high school sports from both private law and public law perspectives. Our analysis reveals that international and United States law do not recognize an absolute, fundamental, or unconditional right to participate in sports at any level of competition. Olympic, international, and unionized professional athletes generally are entitled to independent de novo review of eligibility decisions, usually through a system of private arbitration with subsequent judicial review to ensure an athlete’s procedural and substantive rights were respected. In contrast, courts generally provide only very deferential judicial review of sport governing body rules and decisions affecting the participation opportunities of high school, college, and individual performer sports athletes. We conclude that the developing law of athlete eligibility generally adequately protects participation opportunities of Olympic, international, and U.S. professional athletes, while suggesting some reforms to better protect high school and college athletes.