ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Maurizio Marullo, Giorgio Vagnoni and Francesco Amoresano, LAWP Studio legale e tributario
legal ban on betting sponsors has forced clubs to seek alternative revenue streams. 2.3 Broadcasting Rights Legislative Decree No 9/2008 (the “Melandri Law”) marked the transition from a system based on the ownership of sports broadcasting rights by each event organiser (such as home teams in leagues) to a sys - tem based on co-ownership by competition organis - ers and participating clubs, with the aim of ensuring a competitive balance among clubs through a fairer distribution of revenues, and achieving a more trans - parent and efficient broadcasting rights market. Com - petition organisers oversee marketing broadcasting rights of such competitions worldwide in the interests of the participating clubs. Event organisers still maintain full rights to footage and audio of past events (shared with the visiting club), whereas the mass media maintain the right to report and cover sports events, with limitations con - cerning live matches. Rights to footage and audio of past events may also be exploited commercially by the respective holders, which may still retain the right to use them on their own platforms (eg, social media) for non-commercial and/or reporting purposes. Specific guidelines govern the procedures for assign - ing broadcasting rights to the best bidder in a trans - parent tender procedure, as well as the maximum duration of licensing contracts and specific rules for the formation of so-called broadcasting bundles. For instance, in the Italian market, broadcasting rights of professional sports competitions are assigned over five seasons through various packages (eg, matches, highlights, unencrypted broadcasting, radio, etc). Importantly, no single entity can acquire exclusive rights for all matches. On the other hand, following fur - ther amendments to the Melandri Law in 2023, more flexibility has been introduced into the commercialisa - tion of broadcasting rights on the international market. The Melandri Law establishes criteria for distributing broadcasting revenues among participating clubs. Notably, Serie A has specific rules requiring a por - tion of these revenues to be allocated to youth devel - opment, minor leagues, and sports infrastructure improvements.
Only the assigned broadcaster can film and broadcast the event. While journalists from various companies can attend the venue, they cannot capture audio, video or pictures for broadcasting purposes. How - ever, they retain the right to narrate the event for news reporting purposes.
3. Sports Events 3.1 Proprietary Rights and Event Management
Rights in a sports event (and pertaining obligations) are typically attributed to the organiser; however, said attribution may depend on multiple factors (eg, venue ownership, any delegations to leagues or federations to sell the event broadcasting rights, etc). In professional matches, the home team has the right to control spectator admission through ticketing and/ or dedicated invitation. By purchasing tickets, spec - tators automatically accept the stadium regulations, the rules issued by the federations, leagues and pub - lic security authorities, and any additional measures regarding the event. Sports event organisers must request all necessary authorisations from the competent authority for public entertainment and obtain from the territorially com - petent police force a public entertainment licence to allow the sale of tickets. Failure to comply can result in penalties for the organisers or even the venue being deemed unusable for future matches. Taking football as an example, the FIGC outlines spe - cific minimum requirements in its National Licensing Systems Annex. These requirements vary based on competition importance and cover aspects such as: • minimum number of seats; • pitch conditions and maintenance; • lighting system; • locker rooms; • disabled facilities; and • broadcasting areas. Further, organisers must also comply with the relevant federation rules regarding technical equipment suit -
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