Sports governing bodies' capacity to control their respective sports has come under growing pressure in recent years. As sport has become increasingly globalised and its commercial value has swelled exponentially new challenges to the regulatory schemes of sports governing bodies have become manifest. Sports governing bodies may have de facto regulatory monopoly over their particular sport, but they have no formal de jure right to regulatory oversight and control. This leaves these bodies, and the sports they regulate, vulnerable to external threats to their regulatory autonomy, particularly from those who wish to exploit sport’s commercial potential. This article considers the various means by which the regulatory authority of sports governing bodies may fall subject to challenge, before moving to assess the legal approaches to such challenges. The article further reviews the protections available to sports regulators before concluding with proposals for a new approach
