JJUA55193U International Sports Law

The main objective of the course is to provide the students with an understanding of legal relationships in professional sports in the United States and Europe, in particular the Scandinavian countries, with emphasis on comparative analyses of the legal, cultural and social differences
between the American and European sports models.

In the first part of the course the students will be acquainted with the legal framework and organization of the four American major sports leagues (MBL, NBA, NFL and the NHL) and the international sports federations (FIFA, FIBA, etc.). The students will review how the governing bodies of the leagues and federations operate and to what extent their rulings are subjected to judicial
review. In this context the course will focus on selected parts of public regulation of sports activities and the nature of the often-proclaimed “legal autonomy” of sports organizations. Special emphasis will primarily be put on a comparative study of the US and EU legislation regarding employment
relationships in sports. The course will in particular focus on, how sports federations in Europe in recent years have had to change their rules and accept the fact that fundamental EU principles regarding free movement of workers also apply for athletes in sports. In this regard the Bosman
ruling from 1995 and other sports-related decisions from the European Court of Justice within the last couple of years will be examined in order to find out which, if any, exemptions from the principle of free movement of workers could be deemed acceptable for “sports reasons”. In comparison to the EU-related issues, which the sports federations face in Europe, the course will
examine the so-called labour exemption under US law and how this rule is being applied in the sports context. Thus, selected features of US collective bargaining agreements and player contracts in the
US pro leagues will be reviewed and compared to the European contract system in the post-Bosman transfer era.

The course will also in more general terms deal with anti-trust aspects of sports activities in the US and Europe in particular the regulation of exclusive television rights to major sports events. Proprietary and intellectual property rights issues in sports events and sports performances will also be discussed with special emphasis on sponsorships, ambush marketing and merchandising rights in pro sports.
Finally, the course will examine the overall internationalisation of sports and developments, trends and problems in this context for the future of the European sports model in an increasingly commercial sports environment.