DECISIONAL PRACTICE OF CCI REGARDING SPORTS SECTOR

India has witnessed a sustained rise in the commercialization of the sports industry since 1991.  The decisional practice of the CCI reflects that it strives to balance competition without disturbing the self-regulatory pyramid framework of the sports sector. It has not interfered with the monopolistic structure of the sports authorities as they are necessary for sports development at lower levels.  

CCI noted that “competition cases relating to sports associations/federations usually arise due to conflict between their regulatory functions and economic activities undertaken by them.”

Government policy must work to ensure that the said conflicts are resolved, but in the meantime, forums like the Competition Commission will have to work to ensure that sports governance bodies’ regulatory functions do not have detrimental economic consequences for other parties. 

Various problems are also posed by the pyramidical structure of sports governing bodies, which the Commission has time and again acknowledged in the cases related to the sports market.

 However, instead of deeming the very structure or a class of activities as per se anti-competitive, the Commission has done well to adopt a case-by-case approach. On one hand, sports governing bodies do not have any blanket exemption from competition law as given to baseball in the United States, but on the other hand, the Commission has not held those activities as anti-competitive which have fair and legitimate sporting objectives.