How Brexit Has Impacted The Sports Industry: A Legal Perspective From The First 100 Days

Thursday, 22 April 2021 By Simon Leaf, Tom Murray

From 1 January 2021, the UK's relationship with the EU operates under a different legal framework, with the UK and EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) governing various aspects of trade between the two (however, the EU Parliament and Council are yet to ratify the TCA and so it is only in effect provisionally until this process is complete). As the UK and EU enter into a new phase of their relationship, there are a number of issues that those in the sports industry should be aware of, consider and (if necessary) take appropriate action to address.

This article outlines some of those headline legal issues and considers these in the context of the first 100 days of the post-Brexit world, with a particular focus on:

Immigration
Intellectual Property
Employment
Trade in Goods and Services
Commercial Contracts
Corporate, and
Data Protection

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Written by

Simon Leaf

Simon is a Sports and Technology lawyer and leader of the Mishcon de Reya's Sports Group.

Simon specialises in advising clients (ranging from fast-growth start-ups to internationally listed companies, as well as governing bodies, major clubs, sponsors, intermediaries and athletes) on IP, GDPR, regulatory and commercial law-related issues. He regularly works on significant broadcasting matters, image/digital rights agreements, sponsorship arrangements and international transfers.

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Tom Murray

Tom is an Associate at at Mishcon de Reya in the Sports Group and Esports Group and a member of the Commercial team.

He advises leading athletes, boxers, players, clubs, agents and governing bodies on a wide range of issues from sponsorship and image rights arrangements to disputes and regulatory matters. Recent highlights include: advising football clubs on compliance with financial fair play, conducting a regulatory audit on behalf of a sports governing body, and successfully defending a former Vice President of the IAAF in proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport against disciplinary charges, which included the first case on infringing the autonomy of sport.

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Comments (1)

Alexis Biller
- 25 April 2021 at 09:31
- #
Could there be clarifying remarks made as to what UK legislation could have been made prior to Brexit? This would serve to identify changes that the UK government could have introduced sooner (i.e. not restricted by EU membership).

In terms of prior EU immigration policies relating to elite sportsperson: prior to Brexit did the UK government have the option to adopt a simpler or more lenient version of Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) and/or points system? or instead could the EU framework have been adopted only in a more strict manner, meaning that the EU framework served as the lowest criteria, but each member state could add further criteria?

Now that UK has departed from EU these queries do not apply. However, I remain curious as to what the UK could have acted upon prior to Brexit, and what «legislative freedoms» were not used, but instead UK contributed to the EU central legislative pool and accepted these defaults. Evidently these queries continue to apply to current EU members states - who might then opt to enact slightly different rules within their country to those agreed at EU level.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

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