The European Sports Act:a proposal to improve sports governance through EU legislation

Sports organisations are poorly governed. Corruption and bribery have contaminated the activities of federations, major sporting events now habitually raise human rights concerns, the welfare of athletes is inadequately protected, while women remain under-represented in most decision-making bodies. The time is right for change. In this article, we propose to effect this change through regulatory intervention: a European Sports Act. We briefly review current sources of momentum in favour of reforming sports governance. Then, we make the case for the European Union to adopt legislation designed to improve standards of governance in sport, arguing that the EU is not only the best available actor, but also that it has the constitutional authority to regulate the sector. We formulate a European vision of sport based on the case law of the Court of Justice, existing EU sports policies, as well as Member States’ sports legislation. Specific legislative wording for the European Sports Act is proposed.