Polish Competition Authority investigates suspected collusion among basketball teams

The Polish Competition Authority (PCA) is investigating the behaviour of the Polish Basketball League (PBL) and sixteen of its member clubs.[1] The PCA suspects that the PBL and the clubs jointly agreed on changes to employment contracts with basketball players at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland which meant that the agreements with players were to be terminated after 19 March 2020.[2] The clubs also agreed to withhold the players’ remunerations.

The legal relationship between clubs and players continues to be under the antitrust spotlight.

This article examines:

• the PCA’s investigation into the basketball teams’ allegedly anticompetitive practices;
• Consequences if an infringement is found;
• the trend of the continuing focus and application of competition law to sports stakeholders; and
• the lessons to be learned particularly in the context of the financial pressures flowing from the COVID-19 pandemic.