(Sports) economics upside down? A comment on the Advocate General opinion in European Super League versus UEFA/FIFA

Oliver Budzinski

No 173, Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers from Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics

Abstract: This comment addresses the opinion of the Advocate General (AG) of the European Court of Justice on the pending case European Super League versus UEFA/FIFA. It takes a critical perspective on selected aspects of the opinion's reasoning from a (sports) economics perspective. Highlighting the special characteristics of sports markets, the assessment of the AG Opinion raises questions such as (i) the (lack of) empirical evidence that the incumbent pursues and/or meets the legitimate objectives while the latter is still used as justifying reasons for anticompetitive conduct and arrangements (section III), (ii) the prohibitive entry barriers raised by the non-existence of a transparent and non-discriminatory authorization system preventing open competition for championships formats and organization by objective and effect (section IV), and (iii) the difficult search for a convincing theory of harm justifying the brutal enforcement of single-homing by the incumbent (section V).

Keywords: European football; sports economics; antitrust; competition policy; Super League; Champions League; abuse of dominance; market power (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K21 L12 L40 L83 Z20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-law, nep-reg and nep-spo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:tuiedp:173

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