Legal Rights and Contracts in Esports

Esports has become popular sports branch by the younger generation in recent years, which is played by playing computer games as a team or individually by bringing people from all over the world together via the internet. In this professional sports branch, contracts are made between teams and athletes to keep the promises made in a legal sense. As a result of this professionalism in esports, a branch of esports law has emerged within the scope of sports law to prevent the deprivation of rights in the contracts signed between athletes and teams. The main problem is that there is no special law or a well-established contract model in Turkey regarding the legal dimension of these contracts made between athletes and teams practicing the esports branch and the rights and obligations of athletes and teams. Examples are given from the elements of the contracts signed between the athletes and teams in the esports branch of India and the special provisions of France's contracts and legal provisions related to the esports branch. In this study, the definition of the esports branch, esports law, and the basic elements that should be in esports contracts are mentioned and important suggestions are made by mentioning the elements such as penal procedures, working hours, sponsorship situations, and termination procedures that should be included in the contracts to prevent the athletes from being victimized in the contracts they sign, and it is aimed to contribute to the esports law literature.