It
is often said that as long as relationship is being established, dispute is
inevitable. For as long as we interact with each other as humans in our daily
routine, there is every likelihood to have disagreements, different opinions
and ideas which could bring about dispute; however, the beauty is ensuring that
disputes are resolved amicably. To facilitate a fast and easy means of settling
dispute especially in the sports industry, it has been encouraged that the
Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms should be adopted.  


There
are various types of disputes that can emanate from the sports industry because
of the large size of the industry and based on the area of specialization of
the athletes or personnel. These disputes include but not limited to sports
commercial disputes, on-field of play disputes, contractual disputes and
organizational/ institutional disputes. It is no doubt that the Alternative
dispute resolution (ADR) is utilized to resolve a variety of sports-related
dispute which could come in various forms as mentioned earlier.

ADR
provides parties with fair, independent, and impartial forums to resolve
disputes. The most common forms of ADR proceedings are mediation and
arbitration. An increasing number of sports organizations are including mediation
and arbitration as the primary means for resolving disputes that arise on the
field of play as well as commercial business matters.[1]ADR
can provide quick, private, and fair dispute resolution among sports atheletes
and sports organization which has been made evident in various circumstances
using the Court of Arbitration for sports as an example.

ADR
is a flexible, time and cost efficient mechanism that helps parties in sports
disputes to come to practical and satisfactory solutions. Parties benefit from
having a neutral forum for resolving an international dispute through a single
procedure. ADR can be set up in a way that facilitates efficient enforcement of
the outcome. It is interesting to note that other independent bodies asides the
CAS has found it important to create a platform to help sports athletes resolve
disputes amicably.

 One of such bodies is the World Intellectual
Property Organization which is based in Geneva Switzerland with various ADR
options in particular arbitration and mediation for the resolution of
international commercial disputes between private parties. WIPO’s ADR services
for specific sectors include dispute resolution advice and case administration
services to help resolve disputes in the field of sports.[2]

While
the efforts of the WIPO is very much appreciated, we shall subsequently be
looking at the jurisdiction the CAS and examine the need for a sports tribunal
to help facilitate ADR mechanisms.

Oluwatobiloba Adesemowo

“Tobi is a tax and sports
lawyer. He is currently a management strategist at Lagos Tigers Football Club.
He is also a tax associate at SIAO partners. During his leisure, he loves to
research on sports and tax related issues.”



[1]
American Arbitration Association journal on using adr to resolve collegiate,
professional, and sports-business dispute

[2]www.wipo.int/resolving-disputes-in-sports
last accessed on 23rd Nov.2019