AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Sven Burchartz and Jessica Bell, Kalus Kenny Intelex
Key Provisions of Sponsorship Agreements in Australia The key provisions in any sponsorship agree - ment include clauses relating to: • exclusivity, which may relate solely to a par - ticular market or market segment; • payment terms; • sponsor benefits, including provisions dealing with the suspension of any sponsor benefits; • intellectual property rights, including where and how a sports rights-holder’s brand can be used, and any required approvals; • termination conditions; and • the duration of the agreement. 2.3 Broadcasting Exploiting Broadcasting Rights Traditionally, broadcasters in Australia exploit available broadcasting rights by selling adver - tising space on their channels (especially in the case of free-to-air channels) and otherwise by offering paid subscription services to the public. Broadcasting rights are one of the most valuable rights available for sports rights-holders in Aus - tralia to sell in order to generate revenue. Broad - casters will often seek exclusivity in the broad - casting rights to certain sports events because they can exploit those rights to encourage busi - nesses to purchase advertising space on their channels during times of high viewership. By way of example, 2025 marks the beginning of the biggest broadcast rights deal in Austral - ian sporting history with the AFL extending its partnership with both Seven Network, which is a commercial free-to-air television channel in Aus - tralia, and Foxtel and Kayo as a subsidiary of Foxtel, which are both subscription-style pay-TV services, for a further seven years in an AUD4.5 billion deal.
be resold, and provides for restrictions, or even prohibitions on scalping in that jurisdiction. By way of example, in Victoria in 2022, amend - ments to the Major Events Act 2009 made it an offence to advertise or sell a ticket package to a declared event without the written authorisation of the seller. The amendments also require that resellers of all tickets to declared major events now state the face value, the asking price and the seat details of tickets in sale advertisements. 2.2 Sponsorship In Australia, many sports sponsors use their sponsorship rights as a marketing tool. Spon - sors generally leverage the platform that a sports rights-holder can offer in order to increase public awareness of their brand and, in turn, the value of their business. The affiliation with a sports rights-holder can, in certain circumstances, improve the corporate image of the sponsor as they leverage the strong reputation and brand of a sporting team or athlete. Attracting Sponsors to Sport Sports rights-holders use sponsors to generate revenue for their business by way of payment of sponsorship fees. Sports rights-holders attract sponsor investment by offering a range of sponsor rights, which tra - ditionally can include the right to use the sports rights-holder’s brand and athlete imagery, and to have the sponsor’s brand displayed on athlete kits and at certain sporting events. Sponsorship agreements may offer customised content, fea - turing athletes and team members, the right to feature on the sports rights-holder’s social media channels and, in some circumstances, allow the use of the sports rights-holder’s fan database for the sponsor’s marketing purposes.
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