Football Finance: The State of the Beautiful Game
THEBUSINESSDESK.COM is teaming up with leading law firm Hammonds to bring our readers an in-depth look at the state of football, its finances and future.
Barely out of the headlines, the professional game continues to excite fans on the pitch but interest off the field is just as hot following a controversial summer.
Potential acquisitions of major clubs by foreign owners have dominated the agenda while new rules about the number of ‘homegrown’ players in each Premier League squad has once again fuelled the debate about foreign players plying their trade in England.
Media rights, sponsorship and intellectual property and the increasingly hardline stance by HM Revenue & Customs towards football clubs have all been under the microscope as some clubs struggle to survive.
Every day next week, TheBusinessDesk.com will report on the major issues affecting the game, speaking to figures within the sport in Yorkshire and the North West to highlight their views.
Experts from Hammonds will provide commentary on key issues affecting professional clubs from the two regions, which include giants such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United.
Jonathan Jones, head of the Leeds office of Hammonds, said: “The business of sport and the regulations that surround it are increasingly complex.
“It is both highly competitive and high profile, attracting substantial investment from around the world. It is also of substantial benefit and importance to the public. As a result, the range of legal issues, their complexity and importance have increased significantly in recent years covering areas such as regulation and governance, the creation and exploitation of commercial and media rights, the distribution of the income from such rights and the benefits and responsibilities of the participants in the sports.
“The lawyers in our Sports Law Group are technically expert and immersed in the business and regulation of the sports sector and its participants. We are proactive and commercial, used to advising on the ‘cutting edge’ and on high profile issues.
“Because we act for all the various stakeholders – international and domestic governing bodies, leading clubs, event organisers, media companies, sponsors, agencies and players – we anticipate issues and advise our clients on how to deal with or avoid them, adopting best practice in one area to apply it to another.”
