스포츠 선수계약에 관한 연구 (초) = (A) Study On Sports Player Contract

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

All over the world, sports is a very important part of society. Over the years, the money invested in sports and the revenues earned through the commercialization of sports have increased dramatically. Especially, professional sports leagues have gradually become big businesses during the past half-century. These days, EPL(English Premier League) in England, MLB(Major League Baseball) and NBA(National Basketball League) in U.S. gain popularity worldwide and make enormous profits. In Korea, there are four professional sports leagues at present, that is, KBO(Korea Baseball Organization), K-League(Korea Soccer League), KBL(Korean Baseball League) and KOVO(Korean Volleyball League). In sports leagues, club employs the player as a skilled sports player to make a team and participate in the competition held by league, subject to the terms and conditions of ``Standard Player Contract``. and it includes reserve clause, free agent clause, salary cap clause, and trade clause, which are the characteristics of sports player contract. These clauses restrain players` freedom of contract for the competition balance of clubs and the restriction of players` salaries which are necessary to manage sports league. In the United States, the Supreme Court adjudicated that the excessive restraint clauses(e.g. reserve clause, draft system) instituted in Standard Player Contract by leagues(except MLB) were against the antitrust law, and NLRB(National Labor Relations Board) decided to apply NLRA (National Labor Relations Act) to sports leagues. Accordingly, sports players in the leagues have formed unions in 1960s, and now, the Standard Player Contract is a part of ``Collective Bargaining Agreement``, which is agreed between league and players` association(players` union). However, in Korea, the players only in KBO(Korea Baseball Organization) formed KPBPA(Korea Professional Baseball Player Association) in 2000, but it is not an union protected by the labor laws, and no players` association is organized in other korean sports leagues, therefore no collective bargaining agreement is concluded between the leagues and players in korean sports leagues. Consequently standard player contract is made by league unilaterally, and for playing as a professional player in league, the players are forced to agree it, which determines almost all terms of employments between clubs and players in league. So, it is highly possible that sports player contracts between clubs and sports players in korean sports leagues are unfair and players` rights are infringed on in compliance with the american sports leagues. But, in relation to that matters, there are only a few court cases and a competition authority`s decision in the field of sports leagues. The local court held in 1995 decided that the drafting clause of KBO rules for rookie players was illegally agreed by the clubs in KBO, which led to its invalidity. The Korea Fair Trade Commission admitted KBO to be the business associations, and decided that reserve system, trade system, free agent system, and agent system institutionalized by KBO violating the antitrust law. It also decided that player contracts went against the adhesion contract law in 2001. But, the Application of the competition law and the adhesion contract law to the case of sports leagues is not enough to remove the unfairness of the sports player contract fundamentally and to protect players`s interests in korean sports leagues. It is the best way to unravel the inequity of sports player contract that players organize players` association, and it negotiates with league all about the players` contractual rights and duties, similar to sports leagues in U.S. In order that players are ensured to organize the association as an union, it is the most important that the labor law is applied to sports player in korean sports leagues as a laborer. Hereafter, if players` association is formed as an union in korean sports leagues, it should negotiate all about playe