The increasing commercialisation of sport raises important questions concerning regulation. The development of the European Union (EU) and the internationalization of sporting competition have added an international dimension to this debate. Yet sport is not only a business, it is a social and cultural activity. Can regulation at the EU level reconcile this tension? Adopting a distinctive legal and political analysis, this book argues that the EU is receptive to the claim of sport for special treatment before the law. It investigates the birth of EU sports law and policy by examining the impact of the Bosman ruling and other important European Court of Justice decisions, the relationship between sport and EU competition law, focusing particularly on the broadcasting of sport, the organization of sport and the international transfer system, and the relationship between sport and the EU Treaty, focusing in particular on the impact of the Amsterdam and Nice declarations on sport and the significance of the Helsinki report on sport. This text raises questions concerning the appropriate theoretical tools for analysing European integration.
European Court and competition cases
C(2007) 5617 State aid C-55/2007 (ex NN 63/2007 (ex CP 106/2006)) – United Kingdom Crown guarantee to BT Pension Scheme, Brussels, 28 November 2007
C-58/08 Vodafone and Others v. Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, 3 CMLR 44
C-360/10, Reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the rechtbank van eerste aanleg te Brussel (Belgium), made by decision of 28 June 2010, received at the Court on 19 July 2010, in the proceedings Belgische Vereniging van Auteurs, Componisten en Uitgevers CVBA (SABAM) v. Netlog NV, OJ C288/18
C-461/10 Bonnier Audio AB and others v. Perfect Communication Sweden AB [2010] OJ C317/24; final judgment 19 April 2012
C(2011) 7279, Case No COMP/M.6281 Microsoft-Skype, Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation No 139/2004, Brussels, 7 October 2011
C-131/12, Google Spain SL and Google Inc. v. Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) and Mario Costeja González, of 13 May 2014
Joined cases C-293/12, Digital Rights Ireland v. Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and Others and C-594/12 Kärntner Landesregierung and Others, ECLI:EU:C:2014:238, judgment of 8 April 2014
C(2012) 8223 final State aid SA.33671 (2012/N) United Kingdom National Broadband scheme for the UK – Broadband Delivery UK
C-620/13 P – British Telecommunications v. Commission, Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 22 October 2014
C-362/14, Maximillian Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner, Judgment of Grand Chamber 6 October 2015, ECLI:EU:C:2015:650
COMP/M.7612 Hutchison 3G UK/Telefonica UK, OJ C310/05 of 19 September 2015