Sport leagues have been critiqued for their cartel-like behavior, monopsony power, and many occupational health risks to athletes. Athlete-owned sports leagues are an alternative way of organizing professional sport that may benefit athletes and the industry. This article examines the viability of athlete-owned leagues by reviewing theory and research on worker-owned firms and applying the findings to sports leagues with athlete ownership, with a focus on the Premier Lacrosse League. Five criteria are shown to affect the viability of worker ownership: heterogeneity of interests, capital-labor ratios, time horizons, motivation and efficiency, and conflict with capitalists. When applied to the sport industry, athlete ownership is likely in sports like beach volleyball and skateboarding but unlikely in sports like American football and soccer. Athlete-owned sports leagues have some benefits when compared with capitalist-owned leagues, but they will struggle in markets with incumbents.

体育联盟因其类似卡特尔的行为，单调的能力以及对运动员的许多职业健康风险而受到批评。运动员拥有的体育联盟是组织职业运动的另一种方式，可以使运动员和整个行业受益。本文通过回顾关于工人所有制企业的理论和研究，并将研究结果应用于具有运动员所有制的体育联赛，重点是英超长曲棍球联赛，从而检验运动员拥有的联赛的可行性。已显示出五个影响工人所有权生存能力的标准：利益异质性，资本劳动比率，时间跨度，动机和效率以及与资本家的冲突。当应用于体育产业时，沙滩排球和滑板等运动中的运动员所有权很可能出现，而美式足球和足球等运动中则不太可能拥有运动员。