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O’Leary, Leanne --- "Professional team sports and collective labour law in the European Union" [2018] ELECD 553; in Anderson, Jack; Parrish, Richard; García, Borja (eds), "Research Handbook on EU Sports Law and Policy" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) 410

Book Title: Research Handbook on EU Sports Law and Policy

Editor(s): Anderson, Jack; Parrish, Richard; García, Borja

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781784719494

Section: Chapter 19

Section Title: Professional team sports and collective labour law in the European Union

Author(s): O’Leary, Leanne

Number of pages: 21

Abstract/Description:

In the United States of America (USA) the non-statutory labour exemption has enabled professional sports leagues and players’ associations to agree and record measures in a collective agreement which ordinarily may be subject to an anti-trust law challenge. The exemption provides an incentive for the teams in a league in the USA to collectively bargain and agree with the players those employment measures that may be considered anti-competitive. A similar exemption for collective agreements exists in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union that could incentivise the parties in a professional league in the European Union to agree measures such as a salary cap. If introduced through collective bargaining, certain industrial practices that are unique to professional sport may withstand challenge under European competition law.