Winner takes all

Should regulators be allowed to stop too much money flowing into too few hands in EU sport? Simon Taylor reports.

The avalanche of money coming into football shows no sign of stopping. A new television broadcasting rights deal with the English Premier League enabled the top 20 clubs to spend €724 million on transfer fees over the summer, setting a new record and beating last summer’s total of €434m. New billionaire owners at clubs such as Liverpool and Manchester City have given managers cash to splash around to boost their chances of finishing the season in the top positions needed for a place in lucrative international competitions. Other European leagues are growing too, with the value of France’s Ligue 1 growing by more than a third in 2006, according to data from the Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance.

And it is not just football. France is currently hosting the Rugby World Cup, which is attracting television audiences of 15 million - almost as many as for football games.

Money has changed the nature of some games as big sport clubs become more and more commercial. So are they businesses like any other? If not, how are they different? Some sports organisations such as UEFA, European football’s governing body, are warning that the unique nature of sport is under threat, unless steps are taken to protect it from being treated like any other commercial enterprise. William Gaillard, UEFA’s public affairs director, says: "All European sports are threatened by money." UEFA President Michel Platini has written to all EU heads of state and government asking for a pledge to defend the specific characteristics of sport in the text of the new reform treaty currently being negotiated. Gaillard says that this is necessary to protect sporting activities from the trend of a series of judgements from the European Court of Justice which have fully applied EU internal market and competition law in cases involving transfers of players and doping.

The European Commission joined in the debate in July with its white paper on sport. The paper, which will be discussed by EU sports ministers at an informal meeting in Portugal on 25 October, is effectively a summary of the ways in which sport interacts with EU policies and activities. It stresses the importance of sport in society and its positive contribution to fighting obesity and integrating ethnic minorities. It discusses the problems that have been associated with sporting events, including hooliganism and racism, and highlights how law enforcement agencies can boost co-operation to tackle hooligans travelling abroad for sports events.

Having identified the areas where EU policy might interact with sport, the Commission is still feeling its way. To what extent can it persuade national governments to act together on a European stage, when sport is so often bound up with issues of regional and national pride? Many sports teams command greater loyalty and affection among European citizens than does the EU, so if the Commission challenges the governing bodies of sports, will the EU emerge the winner?

Should regulators be allowed to stop too much money flowing into too few hands in EU sport? Simon Taylor reports.