Contracts in the Field of Sports

This master's thesis explores various types of legal contracts applied in the leisure and professional sports industry, as well as examines peculiarities of their conclusion and legal confirmation. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the concept of legal agreement concluded between sports entities and to propose a classification thereof by providing a description of characteristics and studying the specifics of their conclusion. Hence, the master’s thesis addresses the following tasks: (1) identification and description of legal agreement in the leisure and professional sports industry; (2) classification of employment and civil law contracts in professional sports; (3) examination of main sections and elements in the sponsorship contract and its relation to the contract for the provision of advertising services; (4) analysis of the judicial practice on dispute resolution between the parties to a sponsorship contract. Methodology of the present study includes both general scientific methods as well as approaches specific to private law. Research results comprise the following conclusions: (1) Main types of agreements applied in leisure and amateur sports are service contracts, public offer contracts, and adhesion contracts; (2) Legal science does not have a detailed classification of agreements in the field of professional sports, nor does it highlight the peculiarities of conclusion of such contracts; (3) In professional sports, apart from the classical sponsorship contract, there are mixed-type contracts which include elements of delivery or manufacturing of the goods for organization of sports activities; (4) Current judicial practice on dispute resolution in sponsorship agreements is not numerous and does not allow to form an opinion on the essence and consequences of the dispute in question.