UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Alistair McHenry, Sofia Antipatis and Rebecca Dods, Tyr
• Scope of rights and exclusivity – definition of branding rights (eg, kit, stadium, digital assets), territorial scope, and category exclusivity to safe - guard brand value. • Use of IP and data – licences to use rights-holder trade marks and, where applicable, controlled access to fan data under strict GDPR compliance. • Deliverables and activation – commitments from the rights-holder on exposure (logo placement, social posts, player appearances) and from the sponsor on promotional activity. • Financial terms – sponsorship fees, bonus struc - tures and, increasingly, in-kind contributions from tech and performance partners. • Morality, integrity and compliance – termination rights for reputational harm, along with protections linked to gambling regulation, advertising stand - ards and integrity frameworks. • Term, renewal and termination – multi-season terms with renewal options, performance criteria and mechanisms for early termination. 2.3 Broadcasting Rights Broadcasters and Monetising of Sports Rights UK broadcasters monetise sports rights through sub - scription fees, advertising and, increasingly, digital innovation. Traditional pay-TV platforms such as Sky Sports and TNT Sports rely on exclusive live rights to retain subscribers, while streaming entrants such as Amazon Prime Video expand the market with enhanced features including multi-camera angles, live statistics and pay-per-view options. Referee-cams are expected to grow in prominence. Despite declining linear TV consumption, live sport remains resilient, with sports viewing minutes increasing even as over - all viewing falls. Broadcasters now treat online, on- demand and (often shorter) social content as essen - tial extensions of live coverage, particularly to reach Rights-holders typically package broadcasting rights into exclusive or co-exclusive bundles, often sold through competitive tender processes. The Premier League’s 2025–29 deal, worth GBP6.7 billion, is a prime example – Sky Sports secured four live pack - ages (over 215 matches per season), TNT Sports took younger audiences. Broadcasting Rights
one package (52 matches), and the BBC retained free- to-air highlights. This deal reflects a broader trend that while pay-TV dominates, free-to-air coverage remains protected under the UK’s “listed events” regime. Events such as the FA Cup Final, FIFA World Cup, and Olympics must be offered to broadcasters reaching at least 95% of the population. The Media Act 2024 is expanding this protection to include digital platforms. Other leagues follow similar models such as the Women’s Super League (WSL). The WSL secured a five-year deal in 2024 with Sky and the BBC. Licensing Venue Access and Broadcasters IP To film live events, broadcasters must obtain venue access licences. These licences grant rights to cap - ture footage and audio. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, broadcasters own the copy - right in their produced footage and commentary, sub - ject to licence terms agreed with the rights-holder. In the UK, sports events do not attract standalone pro - prietary rights. There is no independent property right in an event itself, nor any specific “sporting media right”, image right, or sponsorship right. Event organ - isers therefore cannot claim automatic commercial exclusivity simply by staging a competition. Instead, commercial control is achieved through a combination of legal mechanisms, including: • Property law – control of physical access to stadi - ums and venues, enabling organisers to set condi - tions on spectators, broadcasters, photographers and commercial partners. • Contract law – agreements with participants, broadcasters, sponsors, suppliers and ticket-hold - ers, which secure commercial rights and restrict unauthorised activity. 3. Sports Events 3.1 Proprietary Rights and Event Management Controlling Proprietary Rights • Intellectual property law – protection of logos, trade marks, audio visual output and branded content.
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