ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Maurizio Marullo, Giorgio Vagnoni, Francesco Amoresano and Fausto Consolo, LAWP Studio legale e tributario
2. Commercial Rights 2.1 Available Sports-Related Rights Merchandising Sports entities are increasingly focusing on exclusive merchandise in order to enlarge their fan base worldwide, attract new sponsors, gain visibility and, most importantly, increase their revenue through commercial activities. Many clubs are following this trend, frequently releas - ing special collections dedicated to specific markets (eg, the Chinese New Year collections), trendy lifestyle merchandise (eg, capsule collec - tions, collaboration with designers and music artists) and digital content to be marketed via NFTs or similar instruments. This triggers the need to protect the relevant intellectual property and gain consent from the creators, developers and interested subjects. Ticketing For the most important sports events, event organisers enter into partnerships with spe - cialised ticketing companies and/or agencies, through which spectators 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. Hospitality Hospitality services are increasingly offered by sports event organisers as a reward to sponsors, investors, VIPs and loyal fans with the aim of increasing brand awareness and attracting new sponsors and investors. This pursuit of addi - tional income is driving investments in creating more upscale experiences within stadiums and
venues, favouring projects for the construction and revamping of sports facilities. 2.2 Sponsorship 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 rel - evant terms and conditions. Sponsorship agree - ments often contemplate additional components like licensing, advertising and merchandising. Particular care should be taken when negotiating agreements with sponsors operating in certain industries (eg, alcoholic beverages and betting, where limitations 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 licenc - es from clubs to use images of particular ath - letes (in addition to images of the overall team) in their promotional campaigns; however, in such instances, while most clubs are entitled to grant rights over collective images, a specific con - sent should be obtained when a single athlete is involved. Naming rights (whereby a club, a competition or a stadium/arena are renamed with the sponsor’s name) may also be included, subject to certain limitations imposed by the relevant sports fed - erations. For example, Serie, A clubs can have sponsor-named stadiums but not sponsor- named clubs, unlike basketball or volleyball teams. Sports leagues are increasingly assisting clubs in brand development and promotion. A recent example includes Serie, A allowing additional sponsors on team jerseys. Also, sports events
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