Sports Law-the Bosman Decision
Introduction
The European Community was established in 1957 with the primary objective of economic integration. Four fundamental rights- free movement of workers, goods, services and capital- were created to remove border impediments to trade, such as tariffs and quotas. Economic integration allows for increased competition through the elimination of restrictions to trade and the efficient allocation of resources.
For an extended period of time, European football enjoyed a de facto exemption from Community law because its operations were not legally challenged. This changed with the European Court of Justice’s (“ECJ”) Bosman decision in 1995. Bosman essentially created free agency in European football by holding that existing transfer rules and nationality restrictions violated the free movement of workers between Member States of the European Union. Extrapolating upon Bosman, the European Commission subsequently issued a finding that the rules violated European Community competition law as well.
Abandonment of the pre-Bosman transfer system is heralded as the death knell of European football. This reaction is highly exaggerated. To survive and thrive, European football need only commit to a new economic model. In the United States, baseball has undergone similar battles since the early part of the twentieth century. However, despite all the negative predictions by critics when the baseball reserve clause was abolished, baseball has expanded from 24 teams to 30-team league, per-game attendance has nearly doubled and baseball’s competitive balance remaining generally unaffected. European football need only learn from American baseball as how to adapt to drastic changes in a sport.
Challenges to the Transfer System The origins of the international transfer system lie in the very beginnings of English professional football. In 1863, a band of English amateur football clubs known as the Football Association ("F.A.") began to set up a uniform set of
The European Community was established in 1957 with the primary objective of economic integration. Four fundamental rights- free movement of workers, goods, services and capital- were created to remove border impediments to trade, such as tariffs and quotas. Economic integration allows for increased competition through the elimination of restrictions to trade and the efficient allocation of resources.
For an extended period of time, European football enjoyed a de facto exemption from Community law because its operations were not legally challenged. This changed with the European Court of Justice’s (“ECJ”) Bosman decision in 1995. Bosman essentially created free agency in European football by holding that existing transfer rules and nationality restrictions violated the free movement of workers between Member States of the European Union. Extrapolating upon Bosman, the European Commission subsequently issued a finding that the rules violated European Community competition law as well.
Abandonment of the pre-Bosman transfer system is heralded as the death knell of European football. This reaction is highly exaggerated. To survive and thrive, European football need only commit to a new economic model. In the United States, baseball has undergone similar battles since the early part of the twentieth century. However, despite all the negative predictions by critics when the baseball reserve clause was abolished, baseball has expanded from 24 teams to 30-team league, per-game attendance has nearly doubled and baseball’s competitive balance remaining generally unaffected. European football need only learn from American baseball as how to adapt to drastic changes in a sport.
Challenges to the Transfer System The origins of the international transfer system lie in the very beginnings of English professional football. In 1863, a band of English amateur football clubs known as the Football Association ("F.A.") began to set up a uniform set of