Sports & Media Law

Welcome to the Chris Farnell blog. As a sports and media lawyer, you will be providing advice on business agreements, contracts of performance, financial transactions, litigation and employee management and benefits. Lawyers will handle cases on defamation, libel, slander, encroachment on privacy, unsubstantiated allegations or declarations against individuals.

Entertainment law covers radio, music, television, films, art, theatre, books, websites and magazines. Your work will usually consist of providing advice on commercial contracts, intellectual property matters, content standards and employee management. 

Sports lawyers can represent players, clubs, sports agents, regulatory associations or sponsorship companies. Sport is a seriously big business and, as a legal professional in this industry, you will need to be on the ball. You will often have to work on several areas of law; from telecommunications, finance and intellectual property, to negligence and privacy.

The working atmosphere in most places where media and sports law is practised is very informal, modern and friendly. This does not mean that work is not to be taken seriously though, as cases and deals will usually involve huge sums of money. Despite this, sports and media lawyers tend to receive smaller salaries than those who work in large firms where corporate, banking and finance rule the roost. Nevertheless, it is still a very attractive area of law.

Chris Farnell provides quick, creative and simple solutions to clients’ problems and thoroughly know the ins and outs of the sporting area you are involved in. Find out more about Chris Farnell on his IPS Law website  here. Connect with Chris Farnell Lawyer on Linkedin here. Alternatively, you can read the latest Chris Farnell Charlton news here.

Third Party Ownership

Welcome to the Chris Farnell Lawyer blog. The issue of Third Party Ownership in football remains a live one, despite FIFA’s outright prohibition in 2015. Any analysis of the current landscape needs to start with an understanding of what is meant by Third Party Ownership, or TPO for short. It reflects the practice, previously widespread in large parts of world football, whereby an investor, the third party, would invest in a player, a club or an academy, usually by way of a loan, in return for a right to a percentage of the future transfer fee or fees that the player who is the subject of the investment attracts.

TPO was a common practice in many parts of the world before FIFA banned it – in particular in Latin America and in Spain, Portugal and Italy. It allowed many smaller clubs to compete with bigger clubs by being able to purchase players for less than they would do had there not been third party investors holding some of the rights of the player. 

The main problem with TPO, however, was the risk of Third Party Influence, that is the risk of third party investors influencing the playing or trading polices of the engaging club. Third Party Influence leads to a number of other problems – potentially undermining the integrity of football, especially where a third party has an interest in a number of players in the same competition, and undermining team stability where third parties are incentivised to force multiple transfers for economic and not football reasons.

So, for example, a loan from a bank to a football club securitized against a 20% assignment of the future fee the club might receive from a transfer of its best player is prohibited. A club’s right to a “sell-on fee” from a second club to which it has sold a player (something not prohibited, because the first club is not a “third party”) cannot be assigned to another party. Imagine Club A sells Player X to Club B for GBP  1  million (approx. EUR 1.17 million) and there is a 25% sell-on fee; three years later Player B’s value has increased to GBP 4 million (approx. EUR 4.7 million), Club A shall receive GBP 1 million when Club B sells the Player for GBP 4 million to Club C. But Club A cannot assign the right to that future sell-on fee, even though there is little real risk in Club A (as a third party) assigning the right or indeed interfering in the ability of Club B to decide whether or not to sell Player X.

In light of all these factors, while governing bodies and regulators will face the harder task of monitoring players (in addition to clubs), if they intend to ensure effectiveness of the ban (which remains) in place under art.18-ter of the FIFA Regulations.

 Sports Betting

Welcome to the Chris Farnell blog. Sports gambling has a long history in the UK and was first legalised by the Betting and Gaming Act 1960. It is estimated to generate £15 billion in annual revenues and is growing at a rate of up to 8% per year. However, following increased media and parliamentary scrutiny in recent years, with heightened public awareness of issues such as gambling addiction, the industry now faces potentially drastic legislative or regulatory interference.

Meanwhile, the Gambling Commission has been increasingly flexing its enforcement powers, issuing its record fine by some distance of £11.6m to Betway for accepting stolen money from high-spending and potentially addicted ‘VIP’ customers. At the same time, the Gambling Commission has received criticism for its failure to revoke Betway’s licence.

It is anticipated that one of the most likely measures to be introduced by the Review is the gradual prohibition of advertising by betting operators on sports kits and at sports grounds. Perhaps in anticipation of the Review, and a potential ban, betting companies have already come up with novel ways of reacting to a changing public attitude towards sponsorship. 

At this crossroads in the relationship between the sports and gambling industries, companies may weigh up their odds by reflecting on the diverse reactions to imaginative approaches to sports sponsorship. However, in the face of heightened media attention on issues surrounding gambling harm, reflected in increased parliamentary scrutiny of the relationship between gambling and sports, the odds are stacked in favour of a legislative and regulatory overhaul. This could well lead to tighter controls in the UK sports betting industry, particularly in relation to sports sponsorship and advertising.

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Chris Farnell aims to keep you completely up to date with any changes in UK legislation. Learn more about Chris Farnell online here. Visit the IPS Law website here.  Read the latest Chris Farnell Charlton news here.