By Matthew McCormick
Legal disputes between parties involved in sporting activities
are not new. However in the last 10 – 15 years, there has
been a major increase in the willingness of those parties to turn
to formal litigation to resolve disputes concerning organised
sport.
The level of money now involved in professional sports today
means that contracts concerning player employment,
competition/team/athlete sponsorships, endorsements, playing
arrangements, media distribution rights, agents – the
list could go on and on –are now very significant and/or
complex commercial agreements.
Equally (because of the size of the financial implications)
there has been an increase in the awareness that losses and
injuries sustained as a result of sporting activities can
constitute the basis of a legal action for damages. The growing
areas of litigation relating to sports include:
