The debate on the legal specificity of sports is very old and still relevant today. While the legal specificity of sports is already recognized, it is only applied sporadically and limitedly, without challenging some unfortunate consequences of the Bosman ruling. National and international sports federations are calling for a broader recognition of the specificity of sports, which would be reflected, notably, by an adaptation of community law (the “6+5” proposal, protection of training clubs, etc.). Today, several countries, including France, are attentive to these claims, which, for the first time, have a chance of succeeding.
If we want to make progress in the area of sports specificity, it is necessary to determine how sports, in its essence and not just in its external expression, is a particular social activity and why it calls for specific treatment when practiced professionally. However, it must be acknowledged that even today the notion of sports specificity remains vague. It often feels like its invocation is more of a declaration or incantation than a demonstration, more intuitive than deductive, more emotional than reasoned. As a result, we are unable to define what can be included in the term “specificity of sports” and, even more, to precisely set its limits.
It is only by establishing the foundations of the specificity of sports that we can legitimize specific treatment for sports and define the scope of this specific treatment. Without these undeniable foundations, sports cannot claim legal specificity. This is the purpose of the planned Symposium: to deeply analyze the specificity of sports in order to allow for the legal basis of the adaptations demanded by stakeholders in the sports world.
Symposium Program:
