Sports law and policy in the European Union

Abstract

Claudio Radaelli at the University of Bradford. Of course, the views expressed in this text (and any errors) are my own. In addition, I owe special thanks to past and present sports law researchers at the Anglia Polytechnic University. In particular Simon Gardiner and John O'Leary have frequently provided me with an invaluable platform with which to share my ideas. I am also grateful to those members of the EU who shared their thoughts on this matter with me and allowed for the reproduction of key documentation. The final word is of course reserved for my family. Without the support of Berenice this book would never have been completed. Without the interventions of my adorable son Lowell, it would have been completed much sooner! I don't regret a minute. Happy first birthday son. Notes

Global Sport Power Europe? The Efficacy of the European Union in Global Sport Regulation

“…While professional sport represents an entertainment industry, Europeans perceive it as a much larger and deeper grassroots movement relying on volunteering and creating social capital. Hence, sport's hybrid character has given rise to a political agenda critical of market‐oriented sport regulation (Croci, ; Parrish, ).…”

“…The Commission faced political opposition, even internally. According to Parrish (, p. 251), this opposition resulted from the emergence of two competing ‘advocacy coalitions’ after Bosman . A ‘single market coalition’, formed by DG COMP, the Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizen Rights and the Court of Justice demanded that sport should be considered a business like any other.…”

“…In contrast, a ‘socio‐cultural coalition’ demanded special treatment of sport even at professional level. This socio‐cultural coalition featured the Directorate General for Education and Culture (DG EAC) in the Commission, high‐level members of the Party of the European Socialists in the Parliament, sport governing bodies and, importantly, ‘most of the Member States governments’ (Parrish, , p. 251). Yet, Croci () has argued that the EU has always pursued two contradictory objectives in the field of sport: the correction of market failures of professional sport and the maintenance of sport as a social, cultural, health and educational activity.…”

“…After FIFA and UEFA refused to take those aspects into account, the Commission started infringement procedures on 14 December 1998 (European Commission, , p. 1). The Commission addressed the payment of fees for international transfers within the EEA of players from third countries at the end of their contracts, and the obligation imposed by FIFA on national FAs to set up national transfer systems mirroring the one outlawed in Bosman (Parrish, , p. 140–142). When FIFA remained inactive, the Commission defined a firm deadline of 31 October 2000 for proposals to amend the international transfer system (Reding, , p. 2; Parrish, , p. 141).…”

“…It has been argued that the EU did not want to get involved in regulating sport but ended up doing it through the application of single market policies to sport and reacting to judgements of the Court of Justice (García, ). However, through the involvement of different EU institutions and external actors evolving through legal decisions, political declarations and other non‐binding reports and communications (Geeraert and Drieskens, ; Parrish, ), a distinctive regulatory approach to sport although not necessarily a deliberate policy by the EU seems to have evolved.…”