2 12 December 2004

News:

Ofcom’s approval of Channel 5’s bid for the highlights of test match cricket from 2006-09 despite its failure to satisfy the statutory requirements for a ‘B’ listed event has further damaged the credibility of the listings legislation according to sports lawyer, Stephen Hornsby, a partner at The Simkins Partnership.

Leading sports lawyer, John Hewison, whose firm George Davies Solicitors acts for the Professional Footballers Association, has attacked strongly arguments that players should face the ‘discipline’ of damages. Writing in this month’s World Sports Law Report, Hewison rejects what he terms the ‘chattel’ mentality in buying and selling players.

The ant-doping programme agreed between the major league baseball owners and players has been widely criticised for failing to adopt World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) standards.

Features:

What would the ghost of Christmas past and his colleagues of Present and Future make of our sports industry as 2004 draws to a close? It is hard to believe that almost five years have gone by since we witnessed the global celebration of the year 2000 arriving. Halfway through the decade and where are we? Arguably sport still has much to do if it is to reflect back and congratulate itself on steps made in this first ten years of the 21st century.

Football agents have been attacked as ‘nasty scum’ who are parasites on sport. The Football Association is shortly to announce tighter regulation of their activities. Neil Doncaster, Chief Executive, Norwich City Football Club PLC discusses the role of agents, the validity of the criticisms and puts in a plea for the FA to introduce a prohibition on club managers and players from owning shares in player agency companies.

In November’s World Sports Law Report Lord Brennan QC warned that ‘leading sports stars face the risk of massive damages claims in the event of a breach of contract’. Leading sports lawyer John Hewison, whose firm George Davies Solicitors acts for the Professional Footballers Association, examines the arguments and comes to a different conclusion.

Ambush marketing has become a familiar problem for event organisers and sponsors; solving the problem is not so easy. James Franks, an advocate with Herzog, Fox & Neeman, looks at effective strategies for protecting events from the ever more imaginative ambush marketeer.

Sportingbet’s acquisition of Paradise Poker, with substantial financing from Barclays Bank and with Dresdner Klienwort Wassestein placing the required equity, could mark a turning point in the remote gambling market as the City wakes up to the market’s potential. Nigel Payne, Sportingbet Chief Executive Officer explains the rationale behind the deal.

The National Hockey League {NHL} locked out the professional ice hockey players on the roster of the 30 teams belonging to the League on the 15 of September 2004. European elite and professional clubs have benefited. Over 500 of the 700 players from the NHL are now playing ice hockey in Europe. Their union, the NHL Players Association {NHLPA} and the League are locked in a stalemate over labour negotiations.