On Wednesday 14 July 2021 from 16.00-17.30 CET, the Asser International Sports Law Centre, in collaboration with Dr Marjolaine Viret, is organizing a Zoom In webinar on Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter and the right to free speech of athletes.
As the Tokyo Olympics are drawing closer, the International Olympic Committee just released new Guidelines on the implementation of Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter.
The latter Rule provides that ‘no kind of demonstration or political,
religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues
or other areas’. The latest IOC Guidelines did open up some space for
athletes to express their political views, but at the same time continue
to ban any manifestation from the Olympic Village or the Podium. In
effect, Rule 50 imposes private restrictions on the freedom of
expression of athletes in the name of the political neutrality of
international sport. This limitation on the rights of athletes is far from uncontroversial
and raises intricate questions regarding its legitimacy,
proportionality and ultimately compatibility with human rights standards
(such as with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights).
This webinar aims at critically engaging with Rule 50 and its
compatibility with the fundamental rights of athletes. We will discuss
the content of the latest IOC Guidelines regarding Rule 50, the
potential justifications for such a Rule, and the alternatives to its
restrictions. To do so, we will be joined by three speakers, Professor Mark James from Manchester Metropolitan University, who has widely published on the Olympic Games and transnational law; Chui Ling Goh, a Doctoral Researcher at Melbourne Law School, who has recently released an (open access) draft of an article on Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter; and David Grevemberg, Chief
Innovation and Partnerships Officer at the Centre for Sport and Human
Rights, and former Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation
(CGF).
Guest speakers:
- Prof. Mark James (Metropolitan Manchester University)
- Chui Ling Goh (PhD candidate, University of Melbourne)
- David Grevemberg (Centre for Sport and Human Rights)
Moderators:
Free Registration HERE
Editor's note: Rhys is currently making research and
writing contributions under Dr Antoine Duval at the T.M.C. Asser Institute with
a focus on Transnational Sports Law. Additionally, Rhys is the ‘Head of
Advisory’ of Athlon CIF, a global fund and capital advisory firm specialising
in the investment in global sports organisations and sports assets.
Rhys has a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) and
Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.) from the University of Notre Dame, Sydney,
Australia. Rhys is an LL.M candidate at the University of Zurich, in
International Sports Law. Following a career as a professional athlete, Rhys
has spent much of his professional life as an international sports agent,
predominantly operating in football.
Rhys is also the host of the podcast
“Sportonomic”.
Introduction
In the following two-part blog series, I
will start by outlining a short typology of investors in football in recent
years, in order to show the emergence of different varieties of investors who
seek to use football as a means to a particular end. I will then in a second
blog, explore the regulatory landscape across different countries, with a
particular focus on the regulatory approach to multi-club ownership. Before
moving forward, I must offer a disclaimer of sorts. In addition to my research and writing
contributions with the Asser Institute, I am the ‘Head of Advisory’ for Athlon
CIF, a global fund and capital advisory firm specialising in the investment in
global sports organisations and sports assets. I appreciate and hence must flag
that I will possess a bias when it comes to investment in football.
It might also be noteworthy to point out
that this new wave of investment in sport, is not exclusive to football. I
have recently written elsewhere about CVC Capital Partners’ US$300 million
investment in Volleyball, and perhaps the message that lingers behind such
a deal. CVC has also shown an interest
in rugby and recently acquired
a 14.3 per cent stake in the ‘Six Nations Championship’, to the tune of £365
million. New Zealand’s 26 provincial
rugby unions recently voted unanimously in favour of a proposal to sell 12.5
per cent of NZ Rugby’s commercial rights to Silver Lake Partners for NZ$387.5
million. Consider also the apparent
partnership between star footballer’s investment group, Gerard Pique’s
Kosmos, and the International Tennis Federation. Kosmos is further backed by Hiroshi
Mikitani’s ecommerce institution, Rakuten, and all involved claim to desire an
overhaul of the Davis Cup that will apparently transform it into the ‘World Cup
of Tennis’. Grassroots projects, prizemoney for tennis players and extra
funding for member nations are other areas the partnership claims to be
concerned with. As is the case with all investment plays of this flavour, one
can be certain that a return on the capital injection is also of interest.
So, what are we to conclude from the trends
of investment in sport and more specifically for this blog series, in football?
A typology elucidates that a multiplicity of investors have in recent years
identified football as a means to achieve different ends. This blog considers
three particular objectives pursued; direct financial return, branding in the
case of company investment, or the branding and soft power strategies of
nations.More...
Editor's note: Rusa Agafonova is a PhD Candidate at the University of Zurich, Switzerland
The Olympic Games are the cornerstone event of the Olympic Movement as a
socio-cultural phenomenon as well as the engine of its economic model. Having worldwide
exposure,[1] the Olympic Games guarantee
the International Olympic Committee (IOC) exclusive nine-digit sponsorship
deals. The revenue generated by the Games is later redistributed by the IOC
down the sports pyramid to the International Federations (IFs), National
Olympic Committees (NOCs) and other participants of the Olympic Movement through
a so-called "solidarity mechanism". In other words, the Games
constitute a vital source of financing for the Olympic Movement.
Because of the money involved, the IOC is protective when it comes to
staging the Olympics. This is notably so with respect to ambush marketing which
can have detrimental economic impact for sports governing bodies (SGBs) running
mega-events. The IOC's definition of ambush marketing covers any intentional and
non-intentional use of intellectual property associated with the Olympic Games as
well as the misappropriation of images associated with them without authorisation
from the IOC and the organising committee.[2]
This definition is broad as are the IOC's anti-ambush rules.More...
Editor's note: Prof. Dr. Ekşi is a full-time lecturer and chair of
Department of Private International Law at Özyeğin University Faculty of Law.
Prof. Ekşi is the founder and also editor in chief of the Istanbul Journal
of Sports Law which has been in publication since 2019.