ECONOMIC CARTELS AND ANTICOMPETITIVE BEHAVIOUR IN THE SPORTS INDUSTRY

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the emergence and consequences of cartel agreements in the global sports market, as well as to point out the harmful effects of prevailing forms of non-competitive market behaviour. Cartels in sports are collusive agreements among rival teams that jointly perform on the market with the aim of protecting mutual business interests. The sports market cartelization arose as a result of the growing commercialization of the sports industry, which transformed many sports organizations, teams and clubs into a kind of business with enormous profits. The article applies meta-analysis and desk research, that is, a systematic review and analysis of relevant scientific and professional papers in this field. Cartel agreements in contemporary elite sports directly undermine free competition among players by controlling their rights during drafts, their contracts, their salaries and terms of players’ trade, as well as by imposing restrictions on their club membership. In this way, the sports market cartelization jeopardizes the public interest, neglects the social community needs, and undermines the integrity of the sport itself. Other forms of anticompetitive behaviour are here also presented, such as unfair sports market behaviour, agreements on salaries, transfer rules, commercialization of broadcasting rights, pre-arranged agreements in the tickets’ sale, etc. This topic is naturally followed by some ethical considerations that point to the controversies of the modern sports and the connection between the economic success of cartels and their unethical behaviour. Cartels bring enormous benefits to a minority to the direct detriment of the majority of stakeholders in the sport, and thus the wider social interest.