JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Atsushi Igarashi, Yoichiro Kuriyama, Misa Takahashi and Kosuke Ojio, TMI Associates
In addition, sports organisations or companies may choose to discipline their members for unethical behaviour in their private lives, such as acts of infi - delity.
exchange for paying a sponsorship fee and/or pro - viding products and services as value‑in‑kind. These arrangements allow sponsors to enhance brand rec - ognition and value by associating their products or services with sporting events, teams, and athletes. Sponsors may also benefit from specific commercial rights granted by sports rights‑holders, including mar - keting rights, hospitality opportunities, and, in some cases, access to data held by sports rights‑holders and other stakeholders for marketing or business development purposes. From the perspective of sports rights‑holders, spon - sorship arrangements represent an important revenue source that supports the organisation and develop - ment of sporting events or competitions and contrib - utes to improving the performance and competitive - ness of their athletes. To attract sponsor investment, sports rights‑holders actively develop and market the commercial rights associated with sporting events, teams, and competitions. These rights typically include brand exposure through venue signage, team apparel, and digital platforms, as well as hospitality opportunities, promotional campaigns, and the right for sponsors to associate their brand with the relevant event, team, or competition. Within sponsorship programmes – particularly in major or international sporting events – it is common to differentiate tiers of sponsors while granting exclu - sive rights to specific product or service categories. 2.3 Broadcasting Rights Sports rights‑holders grant broadcasters and media organisations various broadcasting and media rights for sporting competitions and events. These rights typically include permission to bring recording and broadcasting equipment into venues, as well as the right to record competitions and events – either direct - ly or through third parties – and to transmit and dis - play that content through live or delayed broadcasts, cable or satellite channels, internet streaming servic - es, or other media. In practice, broadcasters usually obtain venue access licences from the relevant sports rights‑holders or event organisers to install production equipment and conduct live event coverage.
2. Commercial Rights 2.1 Sports-Related Rights
In addition to sponsorship and broadcasting rev - enues, merchandising rights as well as ticket and hospitality revenues are major sources of income for sporting events. For example, the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) received JPY14.4 billion in licensing fees and had forecast approximately JPY90 billion in ticket revenue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. However, due to the COVID‑19 pandemic, the Games were held without spectators, and all tickets were refunded. The Rugby World Cup 2019 Organising Committee generated approximately JPY38.9 billion in ticket rev - enue from the Rugby World Cup 2019, with no spon - sorship, broadcasting, or licensing revenues contrib - uting to this amount. Official resale services were provided for the Rugby World Cup 2019, allowing tickets to be resold at face value through designated resale platforms. Resale through other channels, such as auction websites, was prohibited under the terms and conditions appli - cable to ticket purchase and use. Furthermore, the unauthorised resale of tickets – or the acquisition of tickets for the purpose of unauthor - ised resale – is subject to criminal penalties under the Act on Securing Proper Distribution of Entertainment Admission Tickets through Prohibition of Unauthor - ised Resale of Specified Entertainment Admission Tickets (the “Anti‑Scalping Law”), which came into effect on 14 June 2019. 2.2 Sponsorship Terms A sponsorship contract is an agreement in which a company or individual becomes a sponsor of a sports rights‑holder and/or sports competition. In return, the sponsor receives defined sponsorship benefits in
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