Kurlantzick, Lewis --- "The Tampering Prohibition, Antitrust, and Agreements between American and Foreign Sports Leagues" [2011] ELECD 822; in Nafziger, A.R. James; Ross, F. Stephen (eds), "Handbook on International Sports Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Handbook on International Sports Law

Editor(s): Nafziger, A.R. James; Ross, F. Stephen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847206336

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: The Tampering Prohibition, Antitrust, and Agreements between American and Foreign Sports Leagues

Author(s): Kurlantzick, Lewis

Number of pages: 59

Extract:

13 The tampering prohibition, antitrust, and agreements
between American and foreign sports leagues
Lewis Kurlantzick1



Practices that are commonplace and viewed as unremarkable in professional athletics
would be regarded as unusual, if not bizarre, in more conventional commercial settings.
Imagine, for example, graduates of medical and law schools being drafted by practices
throughout a country so that for a period of time these doctors and lawyers would be
limited to working for the one practice that drafted them (and be forced to seek
employment abroad if they did not approve of the domestic employer by which they had
been selected). Similarly, think of an employee of one company being `traded' to another
company, for which he would now be obliged to render his services.
Among the more peculiar of these practices is the prohibition against `tampering.' To
recognize its unusualness consider the following highly typical scenario:

A works for company X under a three-year employment agreement that will expire in three
months. Company Y contacts A to discuss the possibility of future employment. A meets with a
representative of Y over dinner. After a period of negotiation A agrees to come to work for Y
when his obligation to X ends.

Needless to say, this kind of interaction, which facilitates employment transition, is an
everyday occurrence. And A regards it as advisable to have a new job before he departs his
old job.
But in much of the world of professional athletics, this interaction is banned! Under
typical rules ...