This master's thesis examines sports "super leagues" or, rather, sports competitions organized by third parties and the compliance of the market for organizing sports competitions and their connection to European Union law. First of all, it defines the concept of sport and its development and shows the emergence of sports law. It continues with a presentation of European Union law, especially competition law. In the central part of the master's thesis, two critical court cases are presented from the point of view of the development and formation of judicial practice concerning the impact of EU competition law on sports and sports organizations. In the final part, the problems of the current de facto state are highlighted, as well as proposed solutions to its problems and an indication of its further development.
Since sports is an extremely fast-growing market, which generated more than 500 billion dollars in revenue last year, the tendencies and desires to participate in this market are also clearly increasing. At the same time, questions arise about the possibility of participation in this market, especially in the form of organizing competitions by third parties, since in most sports disciplines, private legal entities, which we call international sports federations, have a monopoly or at least a dominant position on this market, and it is through such a position on the market that they have the opportunity to limit competition and prevent competitors from accessing the market in question. In Europe, the position of monopoly or dominant position and restriction of competition is governed by European Union law, specifically Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The previously mentioned articles provide for a general prohibition of abuse of said positions and forbid restrictions of competition, or they provide for conditions that must be met for such restriction of competition to be consistent with EU law. At the same time, through the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the EU, obligations have been formed that organizations must respect to allow potential competitors effective access to their respective markets. However, despite the mentioned rules in practice, due to the specific nature of sports and sports law and the unique position of sports organizations, there are still questions regarding the validity of the mentioned rules in the field of sports and, consequently, regarding the restriction of access to the market of the organization of sports competitions to third parties which is why there is currently a limited and problematic understanding of the existing arrangement.
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