Non-Competition Interests in EU Antitrust Law

The three December rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union—European Superleague, International Skating Union, and Royal Antwerp—are important milestones in the development of EU sports law and policy. This article focuses on what is perhaps their most striking feature: the prominent place accorded to competition law. The judgments make several important changes and clarifications to how EU competition rules apply in the sporting context. This paper argues that the new legal framework paves the way for a more active use of competition law in sports cases. Although this is likely to have some positive effects on the quality of sports governance, it also carries the risk of exposing the field to an ill-fitting set of rules which follow a predominantly economic and de-regulatory rationale. Ultimately, even enhanced competition law will not be able to solve the manifold problems marring the world of sports—and is a poor substitute for sports regulation through legislative means.

Can EU competition law save sports governance?

Zglinski

2023

The impact of the rulings of 21 December 2023 on the structure of EU sports law

Weatherill

2023

The three rulings of 21 December 2023 make three changes to the way we understand the structure of EU sports law. I examine all three in this paper, but I do not think any of the changes are radical. Things have changed – but not much, and the fundamentals of EU sports law, nurtured by the Court in case law that commenced in 1974, are untouched by the Court’s latest three rulings. To be clear: my concern in this paper is only with the structure of EU sports law. For UEFA, and in particular for its power to act as a ‘gatekeeper’ through a system of prior approval for new competitions offered by third parties, things have changed a lot, but that is a separate issue.

Accounting for the specificities of sport in EU law: Old and new directions in the 21 December 2023 judgments

Villanueva

2023

This article reflects on sport interests as accounted for by the European Court of Justice in the three judgments delivered on the 21st of December 2023: Case C-333/21 European Superleague Company SL v FIFA, UEFA, Case C-680/21 UL, SA Royal Antwerp Football Club v URBSFA, UEFA and Case C-124/21 P International Skating Union v Commission. In the cases, the Court does not treat sport as a special interest that would justify excluding the application of European Union (EU) substantive law to the situations at hand. Rather, the Court adopts a strict reading of Article 165 TFEU as a provision that does not shield the sport sector from the application of EU law. However, the paper demonstrates that the Court does recognise the particularities of sport and accounts for them in the application of EU free movement and competition law. This is especially when characterising rules as object or effect restrictions, but also when exploring the defence under Article 102 TFEU, the justifications under Article 101(3) TFEU as well as under free movement law. The Court guides and encourages the referring courts to pay attention to the specific content of the rules and the context in which they are implemented. The Court thereby follows the traditional assessment of a measure and its context under EU substantive law while devoting great attention to the specific characteristics of the sport sector in its substantive analysis.