Competition Policy in European Sports after the Bosman Case

In the Bosman decision, the European Court of Justice declared that the rules of international football (soccer) governing the player market violated the Maastricht Treaty by preventing international competition for professional athletes. The purpose of this paper is to extend the logic of the Bosman decision to other governance rules of European football, including policies regarding broadcasting, product licensing, and creating and expanding professional leagues. The essence of the argument is that growth in demand for sports and the conversion of European television from nationalized monopoly to privatized competition has vastly increased the financial incentive to create international football leagues comprised of the best teams from the existing national premier leagues. Thus far, national and international football organizations have resisted this movement, but they are unlikely to be successful in doing so. Hence, the relevant question is to identify the various ways these international leagues can be structured, and to apply the principles of competition policy analysis to evaluate them. The main conclusions are that the European Union should, if possible, promote multiple competing leagues rather than a single, monopoly league, or if this is not feasible, to prevent the single league from monopolizing the sale of broadcasting and licensing rights and the number or premier league teams that will be permitted.