Is There Such a Thing as EU Sports Law?

Abstract

After Lisbon there is no longer any doubt that the EU has a legitimate, if subordinate, role in the field of sport. There will be legislation (of a supporting nature): there will be a budget. And the Treaty does at last contain material capable of nourishing the Court’s interpretation of the free movement and competition rules in the particular context of sport. The specific nature of sport is now written into the Treaty. However, since the Court and the Commission have not in the past blindly applied EU law to sport as if it were a ‘normal’ industry it remains to be seen whether Lisbon really changes anything or whether instead it simply confirms existing practice. That latter seems more probable. So: there is such a thing as EU sports law, but it is very different from—and much less comprehensive than—any understanding of sports law at national level. And yet, in so far as the strongest claim that the label ‘sports law’ is intellectually coherent is built on the inquiry into how far one should recognise that sport is sufficiently different from ‘normal’ commercial activity to deserve distinct legal treatment, both EU sports law and national sports law are asking thematically similar questions. And, at both EU and at national level, the hottest topics in sports law tend to concern disagreement over whether the applicable legal standards are adequately attuned to the special features of sport.