PROFESSIONAL SPORT IN THE SYSTEM OF SOCIAL SPORTS PRACTICES – MAIN TRENDS

Abstract

The authors of the article explored the concepts, features and functions of professional sports, as well as identified the main trends in European professional sports and its place in the system of professional sports in general. The article concludes that the role of professional sports and sports in general in the life of modern society is increasing. According to the authors, modern sport is not perceived in its original meaning as a "game" or "entertainment". Sport is an important social and socio-cultural phenomenon that integrates with the main areas of human activity, such as education, politics, economics, culture, religion. In addition, there is no doubt about the intensive development of sport as an independent social institution and strengthening its influence on the education and socialization of the individual, the formation of appropriate lifestyles and behavior. Among the main areas of development of professional sports, experts distinguish sports-commercial and commercial-sports. At the heart of the sports and commercial direction, which is characteristic of European sports, is the sports result and the severity of wrestling. Instead, in North American professional sports, which is a commercial sport, the main goal is to maximize profits, and sports results are seen as a means to an end, and therefore professional sports is defined as a specific area of business where the product is a spectacle produced by participation of all league teams. In modern European professional sports, there is a tendency to borrow North American experience in building a system of competition and conducting sports business. The use of the experience of North American professional sports extends to the system of competitions, namely the spread of the practice of forming national closed professional leagues. Thus, in European professional sports there is a transition to a system of competition typical of the leading North American leagues. The legal trends in the development of European professional sport are the further application of case law and the use of arbitration to resolve disputes. The authors of the article summarize their research with a conclusion about the need for further development of sports law in connection with the constant complication of relations in the field of professional sports and the need for their regulation.