This chapter will focus on sponsorship and ticketing contracts; it will discuss the nature of each of these agreements, pointing out some of the common legal challenges that exist in sponsorship and ticketing in football, and present recent case studies to highlight these issues.
Authors
Shaun Star, Professor, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India; University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Joost Vynckier, Baker McKenzie, Belgium.
Summary
Football clubs derive their sources of income from, amongst others, sponsorship, ticketing, media rights, transfers and merchandising. Each of these commercial transactions are governed by a commercial contract, that is to be negotiated with the stakeholders involved (including other clubs, players, stadium proprietors, sponsors, vendors, merchandise companies, broadcasters and many others). The same general contract law principles, fundamentals and issues underlie these different contracts, with a number of nuances depending on the applicable law.
Parties to the contract also need to be aware of specific federation regulations, as well as any unique (inter)national legislation that may have an impact on their contractual relationship. This chapter will focus on sponsorship and ticketing contracts; it will discuss the nature of each of these agreements, pointing out some of the common legal challenges that exist in sponsorship and ticketing in football, and present recent case studies to highlight these issues.
Published in: Houben Robby eds Research Handbook on the Law of Professional Football Clubs, 194–216, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
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