AGCM

TV RIGHTS: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY TELLS GOVERNMENT AND PARLIAMENT THAT CHANGES TO THE EXISTING SYSTEM ARE REQUIRED, WITH REDISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES BASED ON SPORTING MERIT DECIDED BY A THIRD PARTY OTHER THAN THE LEGA CALCIO

The association of Clubs does not possess the necessary third-party status. Report submitted to Presidents of the Senate and the House, the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Economic Development and Regional Affairs.

The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato has asked for a review of the criteria used for apportioning financial resources from the sale of TV rights between football clubs, in a report submitted to Parliament and the Government signed by its President, Giovanni Pitruzzella.

In the Authority’s view, it is necessary first of all to provide for sharing mechanisms which reward sporting merit more than is currently the case by eliminating references contained in current legislation to “historic” results, beginning from the 1946-47 football season. The reference to clubs’ fan-base catchment areas in the 2008 legislation cannot be directly referred to sporting results, given that the number of spectators on which a football club can rely eludes meritocratic logic. It is therefore necessary to review the option of retaining such a revenue-sharing principle, or at least restrict it further in relation to the principle that rewards results.

For the Authority, the profits of a sports club depend on the competitiveness of its competitors: a sporting event, in fact, is more attractive when the two teams are evenly balanced technically and the outcome is uncertain as a result. Therefore, rewarding sporting merit would make it easier to attain more evenly balanced competitions and would also stimulate investment in sport on the part of new entrants. In the current situation, as resources are allocated largely on the basis of a club’s history and reputation, investments made in order to develop smaller clubs so that they can compete on an equal footing are not adequately rewarded within a reasonable timeframe.

In the Antitrust Authority’s view, it is necessary to choose a third party, other than the Lega Calcio, which would apportion financial resources obtained through the sale of TV rights, in order to guarantee greater fairness and impartiality. The Lega Calcio, being made up of bodies on which individual clubs sit, in fact does not constitute the party in the best position to dictate the rules regarding the sharing of resources, given that these clubs could find themselves in a position in which they influence such choices to their own advantage. The apportionment of revenues deriving from the sale of TV rights, irrespective of the specific commercialisation mechanism adopted, should therefore be carried out by a party which is removed from the economic interests of football clubs and set up with a view to guaranteeing the necessary flexibility and competitiveness of the entire football system.

Rome, 17^th April 2013