Sports Law 2015
In our Sports Law Roundtable we spoke with four experts from around the world to discuss recent regulatory changes and interesting developments across their field of work. Our chosen experts discuss key topics including: drug abuse in sport and the newly enacted World Anti-Doping Code, social media policy and its effect on player-club employment relationship, potential breaches to EU competition laws by the English Premier League and F1, as well as the rise of the whistle-blower in sport in 2014.
Click or drag up to four experts into the centre of the table to read and compare their responses.
Carl Troman
Giulio Coraggio
Jeremy Drew
Nicole Jahanshahi
Stephen Harvey
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All questions
1) Can you outline the main health and safety concerns surrounding motor sports? 2) What opportunities, if any, will the de-regulation of football agents by FIFA create for sport lawyers? 3) With reference to the newly enacted World Anti-Doping Code can you outline the legal, scientific and sporting challenges of keeping pace with drug abuse in sport? 4) 2014 was a big year for whistle-blowers in sports with high profile cases including the Garcia Report on the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, former Russian anti-doping official Vitaliy Stepanov into the extent and nature of doping in Russian sport, and New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent co-operating with anti-corruption officials from both the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the England and Wales Cricket Board relating to spot-fixing of matches. What is the cultural, institutional and legal perceptions of whistle-blowers in sport and is the legal framework sufficiently incentivised for whistle-blowers coming forward? 5) Following the contentious efforts of Ched Evans, a convicted rapist, to return to football after his release from prison, can you talk us through the various complexities relating to the social responsibility of potential employers and whether there are any employment and discrimination laws surrounding the treatment of a serious offender in comparison to the treatment of other employees? 6) Sports disputes of one kind or another, particularly commercial ones, frequently arise. Can you outline the available methods of alternative dispute resolution and discuss their benefits to negotiators? 7) Ofcom has recently opened an investigation into the English Premier League over the way in which it sells its UK audio-visual media rights. It is also believed that the EU Commission has been informally monitoring F1 and building up a file relating to competition concerns by the motorsport since around the time the Seventh Concorde Agreement was signed. How do competition laws apply to sports and what are the potential repercussions from these investigations? 8) Given the implications relating to brand value and the reputation of the sport in general how can clubs and governing bodies appropriately regulate the use of social media, and ultimately how can it affect the player-club employment relationship? 9) In an ideal world what would you like to see implemented or changed?
