Legalization dilemma and solution of China's professional sports league governance

TL;DR

This paper examines governance issues in China's professional sports leagues and proposes legal solutions to improve their management and development.

Contribution

The paper introduces a systematic legal path for China's sports governance inspired by European and American practices.

Findings

China's sports leagues face governance crises in structure, property rights, regulation, and player mobility.

A legal framework with 'charterization' governance is proposed to address these issues.

The solution includes clarifying legal person status and establishing special litigation mechanisms.

Abstract

This paper takes the frequent dissolution of clubs and wage arrears of players in China's professional sports leagues in recent years as a starting point, revealing the deep-seated governance crisis under its prosperous appearance. By combining the progress of Chinese professional sports in terms of policy-driven and legal evolution, the article focuses on analyzing its legalization dilemma in the four core areas of governance structure, property rights system, regulatory system, and player mobility. On this basis, drawing on mature European and American experience and combining with China's national conditions, it puts forward a systematic legal path with “charterization” governance as the core, clarifying the status of legal persons, strengthening the application of law, and constructing a special litigation mechanism to provide theoretical reference for promoting the high-quality development of China's professional sports leagues.