Kiri

Att : EU Member States Sports Ministers and Ministers in charge of sports In light of the Council of the EU’s plan to adopt a new Resolution on the European Model of Sport, I would like to submit a few comments. I act in my capacity as an Advisory Board Member of the Professional Tennis Players Association and a General Secretar y of the Union of European Clubs in football. Otherwise, I am an Associate Professor in sports law and EU law at Manchester Metropolitan University, an author of a book entitled “EU Sports Law and Breakaway Leagues in Football”, and an Estonian citizen. R ECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING EUROPEAN COMMISSION Enforcement of EU competition law in the sports sector by the EU Commission has been highly politicised and subject to influences of various sports lobbies. The Commission has largely ignored its Guardian of Treaty role under Article 17 TEU when it comes to enforcement of competition law against sports governing bodies . This resulted in a lack of compliance with the EU policy requirements that clearly state: compliance with EU law and the principles of good g overnance in sport is a condition for the autonomy and self-regulation of sport governing bodies . This conditionality made no discernible difference in the practice of the sports governing bodies and has performed the role of a slogan rather than an effect ive concept. Both law and principles of good governance are routinely ignored. With this in mind, it would be useful to hint in the Resolution that the Commission should play a more active supervisory role over the exercise of autonomy by sports governing bodies. Rather than criticizing the Commission, the Council could reflect the language from the Commission's own policy documents. The W hite Paper on Sport (2007) states that the Commission is ready to play a facilitating role or take action if necessary in fulfilment of the legal and policy conditions for the autonomy of sports governing bodies. Thus, the Commission should be taking a more proactive role in the sports sector, not just in terms of negotiated solutions and mediation that have so far not bee n effective, but in terms of competition law enforcement. To start with, the Commission could specifically mention the sport sector in the next DG COMP Strategic Plan . RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING SPORTS GOVERNING BODIES There are many models of sports in Europe that do not follow the pyramid structure. However, regardless of any model a sport has chosen, insistence on applying good governance principles by sports gover ning bodies is the key to preventing breaches of law and ensuring compliance with the European sporting values. In the words of the Commission “most challenges can be addressed through self-regulation respectful of good governance principles .” In this sens e, compliance with good governance principles on decision-making boards and giving an equal voice to all levels of professional sport is of utmost importance. Most breaches of law and governance standards in management of sport arise out of poor governance on decision-making boards. One of the responsibilities of the governing bodies in exercising their regulatory role is to ensure the equality of opportunities between various economic operators (ECJ in C-49/07 MOTOE case). Individual athletes and sport c lubs are such economic operators. Their ability to progress in sporting and economic sense is directly linked to their ability to represent themselves in the governance of their respective sports to ensure that the rules that govern them are fair. Giving i nfluence exclusively to the top professional level in running of the sport contributes towards increasing and cementing their sporting and market dominance and creates an even bigger gap between the richest and the rest contrary to the competitive balance principle . This is the case in European football and tennis . European Club Association (ECA), a representative body of football clubs on European level that counts 109 voting members, is not accessible for over 900 European professional clubs. In reality, ECA repre sents the interests of only 15-20 European top clubs - due to the structure of its Executive Board, top clubs can always obtain a majority. Furthermore, ECA represents European clubs in European governing body ( UEFA ) committees . 12 out of 16 place s at UEFA Clubs Competition Committee are held by ECA member clubs . Small and medium sized clubs that comprise a big majority of professional clubs in Europe do not have a proper representation of their interests at any level of governance. Unsurprisingly, t he UEFA Ch ampions League format to take place from 2024 is just a milder version of the European Super League. It is not too different from the closed format of European Super League that was proposed in April this year and that was deemed detrimental to European fo otball values by all football stakeholders. This is contrary both to th e principle of open competitions in Article 165 TFEU and to the requirements of EU competition law. In response to this state of affairs , the Union of European Clubs (UEC) was independently formed to try to gain a meaningful voice in European football as a representative body for the small and middle-sized clubs. The goals of UEC include creating fairer access to competitions, improving conditions and financial sustainability for their members, and ultimately the competitive balance in European football. T he Association of Tennis Professionals ( ATP) is run by the ATP licensed tournaments and not the player s, despite the name and appearances. ATP Executive Board consists of three player representatives and three tournament representatives. Player representatives are not active players and usually come from tennis industry . When three tournaments and three player representatives on the Executive Board do not agree, a Chairman of ATP breaks a tie in the vote. Historically, 98% of times the tie has been broken in favour of the tournaments. As of January 2020 , a Director of ATP Media has been a ppointed as ATP Chairman - he then set up and became a Director of ATP Data Innovations. This is a major conflict of interest that resulted in adoption of a 30-year plan to foreclose the market to the detriment of all but top 50-60 top world players. T he ATP reserves top 30 players exclusively for its own tournaments. The situation is very similar in the Women's Tennis A ssociation. That is why players have set up Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) to fight for a meaningful voice in the governance , financial transparency in running of the tournaments, and fairer distribution of profits . Shockingly, o nly top 100-150 players in the world can live off tennis. ATP Players Council that consists of 10 active players has no voice in the governance and are often not even consulted. The player that was elected by his peers to be the President of Players Council last year was a founding member of PTPA - ATP therefore amended its rules and blocked his appointment. This goes against the basic rights of representation and freedom of association. W hen decisions and rules result from a compromise between the affected stakeholders that are equally represented , they are unlikely to be challenged in a legal action. It is also the most efficient way to increase compliance with EU law and policy and take the burden off the courts and administrative bodies. Should you wish to contact me with any questions, please feel free to use the details below. Sincerely, Dr. Katarina Pijetlovic [email protected] [email protected] WhatsApp +44 74 158 44 692 Saatja: Katarina Pijetlovic <[email protected]> Saadetud: 12.10.2021 01:31 Teema: Comments on the Draft Resolution on European Model of Sport Manused: Outlook-jliuqyv3.png; Letter to Sports Ministers .docx (Please forward the letter to the Minister with sports portfolio that represents your Member State in the Council of the EU) Dear Ministers of the EU Member States in charge of sports, Please find attached a letter submitted on behalf of Union of European Clubs in football and Professional Tennis Players Association. It concerns the upcoming meeting of EU Sports Ministers to adopt a new Resolution on the European Model of Sport. You might find the views of the sports association and the sports union valuable and hopefully our suggestions can be included in the final version of the Resolution. Best wishes, Dr. Katarina Pijetlovic UEC | General Secretary