The elite of experts in the sector calls for an update of the Sports Law.
“The necessary updating of the Sports Law that dates back more than 20 years is reinforced by the consequences of Covid, which has impacted on a complex industry and in which numerous stakeholders from the private and public spheres are involved.” Thus begins the argument of the manifesto launched by the Sports Marketing Experts Committee (Cemde), which depends on the Spanish Marketing Association and which brings together firms and large sponsors in Spain such as Santander, Telefnica, Endesa, Iberdrola and CaixaBank as well as to the NBA, LaLiga, Dorna, CSD, Comit Olmpico y Paralmpico or Adesp, among many other protagonists.
The text, to which EXPANSIN has had access, refers to the draft of the Sports Law presented in June 2021 and has been made available to the Government, the Parliamentary Groups and the Spanish Sports Advisory Council (CADE), made up of businessmen , athletes, former secretaries of state and federations. The importance of private initiative and the correct definition of relationships within the industry backbone the text, which starts from the fact that sponsorship has a bidirectional perspective, compared to the unidirectional nature of patronage.
- Definitions. “The term” sponsorship “appears five times in the text of the draft, while the word” sponsor “hardly appears in it, when it is the subject that” favors and enables the action of sponsorship. “The experts thus ask to reflect that the sponsorship is “a coin with two sides: sponsor and sponsored and that both should have some reference in the text.”
- Collaboration. The draft makes it “absolutely” clear that a regulatory and action framework is necessary that favors the sponsorship of private activity and, “most importantly, that there is a specific tax treatment that encourages and favors the participation of sponsoring brands in sport. “. In this sense, it emphasizes that public-private collaboration is the basis of development, also in sport.
- Incentives. Regarding incentives for sponsorship and patronage, the draft cites that “the Government must present to the Cortes, within a period of one year from the entry into force of this law, a project that establishes a system of incentives for patronage and patronage. sports patronage with the aim of promoting private participation in the financing and development of sports “.
- Transparency. The experts ask to clarify the obligation mentioned in the draft to publish “in a concrete and broken down the amount of the contracts and agreements if they originate operating and investment costs”, which basically refers to the contracts of the federations. Since there are only two equal sponsorship contracts, it is requested to specify the obligations at this point. Transparency is a flag for experts, also aware that comparisons may not be consistent with an ecosystem in which each contract is tailored to the specific needs of each sponsoring company or brand (depending on its objectives, target audience, areas, activation strategies, etc). It is emphasized that the Law that is approved should establish “clearly and emphatically that the economic exploitation and commercialization of the competitions is the responsibility of its organizer.”
- High performance. The text explicitly recognizes that athletes, especially elite athletes at a competitive level, are subject to sponsorship, both individually or as part of a team or group, an aspect that is considered appropriate. “However, the text of the legislator does not clarify the implications of the law for this group, fearing that certain practical dysfunctionalities may be created in aspects of high sensitivity when different athletes can be compared with each other”, concludes the manifesto.
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