Competition law rulings in the world of sports – the Market Court’s ruling regarding the Swedish Automobile Sports Federation and its decision concerning the Swedish Hockey League, March 2013
The competition law regime has at EU-level, for a long time, been applied to different sports contracts and agreements. During the 1990’s, the so-called Bosman ruling on transfer rights for football players was in focus. Since then, issues such as TV rights to football broadcasts have been tried several times. Questions more closely associated with the practice of sports have also been tried, such as the anti-doping rules for swimmers, in the so-called Meca-Medina case in the mid 2000’s. In Sweden, the first competition law case regarding sports contracts and agreements has now been tried. The Market Court has issued a judgement in a case between the Swedish Competition Authority and the Swedish Automobile Sports Federation (“SBF”), case MD 2012:16. The Market Court prohibited SBF, under penalty of a fine of MSEK 1, to apply certain duty of loyalty clauses, which were considered as being anti-competitive agreements. The duty of loyalty-clauses prohibited licensed officials and contestants to participate in motor sport events arranged by other than SBF’s member clubs. Notwithstanding the specific nature of the sport, the rules were neither considered as being necessary nor proportionate in order to achieve their legitimate objectives. Furthermore, a decision regarding short-term contracts in the Swedish Hockey League is commented on, where the Market Court in distinction from the Competition Authority considered the rules as being compatible with the competition law provisions. Competition law is thereby entering the world of sports and club activities in Sweden too, and may be said to be here to stay. The rulings in question are hereby commented by Elisabeth Eklund, partner, Ulrika Lundgren, associate and Isabell Nielsen, thesis trainee.