ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Maurizio Marullo, Giorgio Vagnoni and Francesco Amoresano, LAWP Studio legale e tributario
Hospitality Hospitality services are increasingly offered by sports event organisers as a reward to sponsors, inves - tors, VIPs and loyal fans with the aim of increasing brand awareness and attracting new sponsors and investors. This pursuit of additional income is driv - ing investments in creating more upscale experiences within stadiums and venues, favouring projects for the construction and revamping of sports facilities. 2.2 Sponsorship Terms Sponsors remain a major source of income for the Italian sports industry. Italian laws do not contemplate statutory provisions governing sponsorship contracts; therefore, parties are granted considerable freedom to define the relevant terms and conditions. Sponsorship agreements often contemplate additional compo - nents such as licensing, advertising and merchandis - ing. Particular care should be taken when negotiating agreements with sponsors operating in certain indus - tries (eg, alcoholic beverages and betting, where limi - tations are imposed on sponsorships with visibility in the Italian territory) and when barter is provided (ie, payment in kind), where relevant tax implications must also be assessed. It is also common for sponsors to secure licences from clubs to use images of particular athletes (in addition to images of the overall team) in their promo - tional campaigns; however, in such instances, while most clubs are entitled to grant rights over collective images, a specific consent should be obtained when a single athlete is involved. Naming rights (whereby a club, a competition or a stadium/arena is renamed with the sponsor’s name) may also be included, subject to certain limitations imposed by the relevant sports federations. For exam - ple, Serie A clubs can have sponsor-named stadiums but not sponsor-named clubs, unlike basketball or volleyball teams. Sports leagues are increasingly assisting clubs with brand development and promotion. A recent example includes Serie A allowing additional sponsors on team jerseys. Also, sports events are increasingly linked to sponsors (eg, match sponsors, award sponsors, etc). This focus on branding is even more crucial since the
First-instance decisions may be challenged before the National Anti-Doping Court of Appeal and the Federa - tion Court of Appeal. Disciplinary decisions may be further challenged before the CONI Collegio di Garan- zia dello Sport on grounds of legal violations or for insufficient or defective reasoning on a crucial aspect of the dispute (Article 54 of the CONI Justice Code). The above proceeding does not preclude the involve - ment of competent public prosecutors and ordinary criminal courts, which may initiate independent inves - tigations. There is a regulated system for sharing infor - mation between ordinary courts and sports judicial bodies. Sports entities are increasingly focusing on exclu - sive merchandise to enlarge their fan base world - wide, attract new sponsors, gain visibility and – most importantly – increase their revenue through com - mercial activities. Many clubs are following this trend, frequently releasing special collections dedicated to specific markets, trendy lifestyle merchandise (eg, capsule collections, collaboration with designers and music artists) and digital content to be marketed via non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or similar instruments. This triggers the need to protect the relevant intellectual property and gain consent from the creators, develop - ers and interested subjects. Ticketing 2. Commercial Rights 2.1 Sports-Related Rights Merchandising For the most important sports events, event organis - ers enter into partnerships with specialised ticketing companies and/or agencies, through which specta - tors have the opportunity to purchase tickets and, if allowed, change the users’ details on tickets or resell them to third parties. To combat illicit ticket resale, the resale of tickets at inflated prices and/or through illegal channels is prohibited. Furthermore, authorised retailers are now required to implement name change services and/or facilitate ticket resale at their original retail value.
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