The takeover bid for Manchester United by BSkyB has implications both for football in the UK and for television coverage of football and other major sports in Europe and the rest of the world. This month's EP News looks at the EU's role in sport and the priorities for MEPs.
Sport brings people together: they watch games and performances by sportsmen and women. Teams travel and meet like-minded people from different countries with a shared, and often passionate, common interest. Though professional football clubs and national teams are often associated in the media with bad behaviour and the unpleasant aspects of nationalism, the reality is that most games take place without incident; supporters travel abroad, enjoying the opportunity to visit new places and meet rival fans. More than 100 million people take active part in some form of sporting activity in the EU. There is therefore an enormous opportunity for sporting contacts to contribute to breaking down barriers and strengthening ties between people from different countries. At an EU level, Parliament has initiated a small promotional budget line worth some Ecu 3 million in 1998. This money is used to support some 174 different projects across the EU covering a wide range of sports ranging from volleyball to caving. A priority is to provide financial assistance for projects promoting the integration of people with disabilities through sports. The aim is to ensure that as many disabled people as possible are aware of the opportunities to participate in sports, and to increase public awareness of the possibilities available.
Co-operation at a European level is also developed through the European Sports Forum which brings together representatives from national governments, sports federations and international bodies. At European Parliament level, co-operation is supported through the Sports Intergroup chaired by Lord Tomlinson, which meets regularly and brings together interested MEPs.
Europe's role?
The question of whether or not the EU itself should have a specific competence for sport has however proved controversial. MEPs last year backed a call from the EP committee responsible for sport for a specific reference to sport to be included in the Amsterdam Treaty, but a warning note was sounded by several Scandinavian MEPs. They feared undue EU interference, arguing that sporting events were national concerns which should be kept out of the EU regulatory domain. European championships should be left to be organised by existing international bodies. EU Ministers fell shy of including a commitment to sport through a specific treaty article and declined to take Parliament's recommendation on board. As a compromise, they did agree a "Declaration on sport" in which member states called on EU institutions "to listen to sports associations when important questions affecting sport are at issue".
However, Roy Perry (UK, EPP) warned that without a specific Treaty article on sport it would prove difficult to secure substantial financial assistance for sporting organisations. His prediction came true, as funding for sport was caught up in a Court ruling declaring illegal certain aspects of EU expenditure committed without a legal base.
Nevertheless during the British Presidency UK Sports Minister Tony Banks told members of the intergroup that the new declaration had already made an impact on the EU's commitment. He was pursuing contacts with the Austrian Presidency with a view to agreeing an EU policy statement for sport, based on encouraging participation by people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Competition policy
And yet EU competition rules, media regulations and other European legislation inevitably encroach on international sport as commercial interests increasingly take a larger stake in major games. The European Court's Bosman ruling (that EU treaty rules on freedom of movement apply to footballers), and the recent EU-wide ban on tobacco advertising, are perhaps the most notable example of EU involvement. Competition Policy Commissioner Karel van Miert is taking an increasing interest in developments off the football field.
The BSkyB takeover of Manchester United will not come under EU merger regulations, since the club's turnover of £88 million falls below the threshold. However, the Commissioner has indicated his concern over investment companies dominating European championships through club ownership. A case in point is the English National Investment Company, which controls AFK (CHECK: AEK?) Athens, Slavia Prague and Vicenza, a situation which has led UEFA to introduce a new ruling this year, only allowing such conglomerates to own one of the clubs eligible to take part in European competitions. This decision too could be challenged as a breach of EU law, and is at present under investigation by the Commission.
Earlier in the year the Commissioner embarked on a collision course with the German authorities. He stated his opposition to a German proposal to introduce national legislation exempting professional sports from competition in order to allow the German football authorities to maintain exclusive rights over European matches played in Germany. Mr Van Miert pointed out that such an arrangement could apply to national games but, when applied to European championships, would fall foul of EU competition law.
TV coverage
The Commission has also taken FIFA to task over its insistence on requiring footballers' agents to lodge a hefty deposit with the organisation before obtaining authorisation. Television coverage of major sporting events is another issue that has been of major concern to MEPs. Earlier this year they inserted, in the cross-frontier broadcasting directive, a clause permitting national governments to retain important sporting events - such as the Cup Final - as the preserve of free television.
The European Broadcasting Union has protested at FIFA's sale, in spite of this piece of legislation, of the broadcasting rights for the next World Cup (in the year 2002) to the German media group JSL/Kiran for some $2 billion; this could mean pay-per-view for each match. With the advent of digital television, and the prospect of even more television channels just around the corner, the Manchester United bid illustrates the potential for commercial companies.
The Commission, closely watched by MEPs, is committed to using existing EU Treaty rules to ensure fair play in the public interest. However, it remains to be seen to what extent the EU will be able, without a specific treaty undertaking, to make a positive contribution to developing sport for participants.