Number 1: FL FFP regulations only apply to clubs participating in the FL Championship. Clubs in the FL Leagues 1 and 2 have to adhere to separate regulations called the Salary Cap Management Protocol (SCMP) which ties cost to a percentage of turnover.

Number 2: The overall aim of the rules is to ensure Championship clubs balance their books and do not spend more than they earn so that they become self-sustainable. In the context of the Championship clubs, this is to be achieved through:

• some losses being acceptable in the first years of implementation;
• sanctions (fines and a transfer ban) being brought in from the 2014/15 season; and
• clubs being incentivised to comply with the rules by receiving a share of the non-compliant club’s fines.

Number 3: Football League Financial Fair Play (FLFFP) came into play for the 2012-13 Championship season. There are no sanctions for breaching the regulations in the 12/13 and 13/14 seasons. A club can be fined (if the club is in the Premier League at the time of the decision) or be subject to a transfer ban (if the club remains in the Championship at the time of the decision). The below table sets out the different permutations.

Clubs Promoted to the PL	Clubs Relegated From the PL
Clubs promoted to the PL must provide FFP information for their promotion season by December 1 (i.e. for the season they were in the FL Championship). If a PL club has breached the regulations, they will befined according to the sanctions table set out below.	Clubs relegated from the PL will not be subject to sanctions in their first season in the Championship as long as they have complied with all relevant PL regulations. The club would however be fined if it achieved promotion in its first season in the Championship whilst not complying with the FFP regulations.
Clubs that Remain in the Championship	Clubs Relegated From the Championship
Clubs that fail to comply with the FFP regulations will be subject to a transfer embargo. The first embargo can be enforced by the FL from the beginning of January 2015.	Clubs relegated from the Championship will not receive any Fair Play Tax pay out but will be required to comply with the SCMP.

Number 4: The below table sets out the acceptable permitted losses Championship clubs can make

Reporting Period	Date of Accounts Submission	Reporting Period Equity Contributions	Reporting Period Acceptable Deviation	Total Acceptable Deviation	FL Sanction Available
2012-13	Dec.’12 for 2011-12 season	£8m	£4m	£12m	No
2013-14	Dec.’13 for the 2012/13 season	£6m	£4m	£10m	No
2014-15	Dec.’14 for the 2013/14	£5m	£3m	£8m	Yes
2015-16	Dec.’15 for the 2014/15	£3m	£3m	£6m	Yes
2016-17	Dec.’16 for the 2015/16	£3m	£2m	£5m	Yes
2017-18	Dec.’17 for the 2016/17	£3m or lower	£2m or lower	>£5m	Yes

Number 5: By way of practical example, for the 14/15 season, a club’s Fair Play Result (for the purposes of this example before calculating any acceptable deviation) is minus £6m. A club for the 13/14 reporting period can make a £3m loss and not fall foul of the regulations. However, as the club has made a £6m loss, an owner would have to inject £3m of equity into the club. If the owner does not, the club, all other things being equal, will be in breach of the FFP regulations. Note that an owner, in that season, can only inject up to £5m into the club. Any more and the club would be in breach of the regulations because it made losses over the combined £8m total acceptable deviation limit.

Number 6: Come the 14/15 season, a club that is in breach of the regulations will face sanctions. Failure to stay within the defined limits (leading to a negative Fair Play Result) will lead to the imposition of sanctions. The sanctions will vary depending on whether the club is promoted to the PL, remained in the Championship or was relegated to League 1.

Number 7: A calculation table of fines has been published to enable clubs to understand the potential size of the penalty. Clubs promoted to the PL will have to pay a ‘Fair Play Tax’ on the excess by which they failed to fulfil the Fair Play requirement ranging from 1% on the first £100,000 to 100% on anything over £10m. Clubs who comply with the regulations will receive a share of any fines imposed on non-compliant clubs. Any proceeds will be distributed equally amongst those clubs that complied with the FFP regulations for the season in question. Clubs that remain in the Championship, who breach the FL FFP regulations will have a transfer embargo imposed. Clubs who are relegated out of the Championship will not be entitled to any Fair Play Tax payout but will not be sanctioned.

Percentage of the Excess	Excess	Calculation (rounded up)
1% of the Excess between	£1 & £100,000	£1,000
20% of the Excess between	£100,001 & £500,000	A maximum of £80,000
40% of the Excess between	£500,001 & £1m	A maximum of £200,000
60% of the Excess between	£1,000,001 & £5m	A maximum of £2.4m
80% of the Excess between	£5,000,001 & £10m	A maximum of £4m
100% of the Excess over	£10,000,001 +	No Maximum

Number 8: The following is an example  for a club that is promoted to the Premier League but is in breach of the FLFFP for the year they were in the FL. If a club’s accounts (after available FLFFP reliefs have been discounted) show that it is exactly £10m over acceptable deviation parameters, the fine will be £6,681,000 (i.e. £1,000 + £80,000 + £200,000 + £2.4m + £4m). As explained all fine proceeds will be distributed equally amongst FFP compliant clubs. It is not however expressly set out whether a fine could be part of a clubs costs or a distribution of a fine for a compliant club could be used as revenues for future Fair Play Result calculations.

Number 9: The new rules require clubs by December 1 of each season to provide annual accounts to the FL, setting out details relating to the previous playing season. The FL will use the financial information received to determine whether a club has complied with the regulations. As will be shown below, it is possible for a club to make a loss and still pass the FL FFP regulations. The FL will establish a Financial Fair Play Panel to hear challenges brought by clubs in relation to the initial Fair Play Result.

Number 10: There are also certain cost exclusions which can be removed from a club’s cost base. This is in relation to “specific areas of club infrastructure or losses in certain extraordinary circumstances.” Such categories of cost exclusion include investment in youth development, sale and depreciation of fixed assets (e.g. a club’s stadium or training ground), investment in a club’s community scheme, promotion related bonus payments, career ending injury costs, bad debts from other clubs and losses sustained from a defaulting major sponsor.

 

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Daniel Geey, Associate in the Competition and EU Regulatory Group at Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP.

Daniel has provided advice and presentations on a whole raft of football related issues and can offer industry specific legaladvice on football takeovers, Premier League, Football Association, UEFA, FIFA, FFP and more.

Check out Daniel’s blog, ‘The Final Score on Football Law’ here >> and follow Daniel on Twitter here >>

Please feel free to get in touch with Daniel Geey should you or your club have any questions concerning the regulations.

Daniel Geey’s 

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I’ve just come back from Barcelona where I was the driver steward for the Formula One race.  Due to the nature of the role I’m afraid that I can’t comment on the decisions that were made over the course of the weekend but it was a huge privilege to have been asked to do the job.  After having previously been both an F1 driver and an analyst for when ITV covered F1, it was also interesting to see another side of the sport.

So now it’s the usual frantic rush to get all the race equipment from Barcelona to Monte Carlo in readiness for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.  Monaco is like no other race on the calendar and it’s going to be interesting to see the impact the new regulations have on this year’s race.

We’ve had five races in the season so far and there seems to be pretty much universal agreement among fans, teams and pundits that this is one of the most exciting starts to a season in a very long time. A big part of the excitement of the first five races is the new regulations which we’re starting to see the effects of.

As is often the case with the introduction of any new regulation, it takes a while for everything to run smoothly.  We’ve had many occasions where DRS and KERS have either malfunctioned or simply not worked on the cars.  Red Bull’s Vettel, for example, has still not had one race where his KERS has worked perfectly.

We’ve also seen that the FIA have had to make some tweaks to the new regulations as the season has progressed (as they are able to see the effects of them).  For example, it has been announced that there will be two DRS activation zones in Montreal and Valencia, rather than the one zone in the first five races.  There’s also been mixed opinions over whether there should be a DRS zone in Monaco and at one stage there was talk of it being banned; but there will be a zone and it will be up to the individual driver whether he uses his DRS.  The FIA will continue to monitor the regulations at each and every race so we could well see some more tweaks made before the end of the year.

So far it’s the tyres that are causing the biggest shake up to this year’s racing.  Tyre strategy is playing a vital part from qualifying right through the race; as teams have to make the right call on when to use their soft and hard compounds as well as deciding on how many pit stops to make, and of course when!  One of the main complaints coming from drivers this year are the marbles that are being produced by the new tyres.  Off the racing line you can clearly see the build up of marbles as the race progresses which cause a nightmare for any drivers running through them.

I think it’s going to be a while longer before we can truly judge which teams are making the most of the regulations.  Vettel has had an incredible start to the year but, as I mentioned earlier, the team still haven’t managed to make the KERS work perfectly at every race so he hasn’t been able to maximise the new regulations.  McLaren have really started to fight back and we could see in Barcelona how Jenson made his tyre strategy work perfectly to move up to P3, while Lewis used a combination of KERS and DRS to help close the gap on Vettel.  But the regulations are still very new and we’re going to need to sit back and see how everything pans out throughout the rest of the season.  Next stop Monaco!

Mark Blundell’s

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By Tristan Mann, News Editor

Zak Brown is a former professional race car driver. He founded Just Marketing International in 1995 which became the world’s largest and most influential motor sports marketing services company. He is known as an entrepreneur and as a leader, innovator, deal maker and increasing influencer of all things commercial in the global motor sports industry. Brown and his team have guided clients in all major motor sports series globally, including NASCAR, Formula One World Championship, Indy Racing League, NHRA (National Hot Rod Association), Grand Am Road Racing Association, and the American Le Mans Series. A four-time honoree as an Inc. 500 “Fastest Growing Private Company,” Just Marketing International is now supported by a growing staff of more than 140 employees.

Zak Brown’s

What made you decide to start up Just Marketing International, and was it something you had been planning for a while?

My original and, to an extent, current passion is driving race cars.  That was my sole focus for a number of years.  You can’t race at the higher echelons of motorsport without considerable sponsorship so that naturally put me on the path of partnership building in order to sustain my driving career.  One thing led to another and eventually the business of racing trumped the actual racing, at least for a while.  Today, JMI has about 140 employees, and growing, and is the top motorsports-exclusive agency in the world.  Ironically, it’s coming full-circle because I’m back to racing again in Europe with FIA GT3 and in North America with Legends of Motorsports, a series I’m co-partnered in with fellow historic racing enthusiasts Bobby Rahal and Peter Stoneberg.

Was it a difficult decision to take a break from driving while you set up Just Marketing International?

Probably more emotionally than financially.  One has to pay the rent and marketing became a much more predictable way to do that.

What challenges did you face building the business up, and did find your relatively young age at the time a help or hindrance?

Any time you’re starting out you have to struggle to get that first shot and prove yourself.  Creating initial momentum is often the hardest part.  Because I was comparatively young and aggressive that helped give me the energy and resilience to keep pushing forward.  Anyone who knows me quickly realizes that I’m not easily deterred.  I don’t wilt at the word ‘no.’ It drives me to find a different pathway to ‘yes’.  In terms of JMI, it has grown building on the addition and successes of one client after another.  It took some lean years to become known and respected in the industry but we’re now long past that.

Did you always plan to run a purely motorsports-focused company, or are there plans to expand the business to incorporate other sports?

That’s a question that’s frequently been debated.  Many of our services such as design, hospitality, communications, experiential marketing, etc. are easily applied outside motorsports.  We’ve had those invitations and some have been quite tempting.   Overall, the prevailing philosophy has been to stick to motorsports marketing and focus on being the absolute best at it.

What were the significant moments in the development of Just Marketing International?

There are a number so it’s hard to say.  Certainly the one that is often cited as a huge game-changer for JMI is being part of the initiative that dissolved a more than 50-year ban on spirits producers in NASCAR.  That reversal allowed us to bring our Diageo client head-long into the sport and grab the dominant position for the category.  I’d also rank our first major F1 sponsorships in there as well.  Those gave us international credibility and set the stage for the likes of Johnnie Walker, LG and, just recently, UBS as major clients in Formula One.

SportAccord Convention is delighted to confirm that Michael Evans, President of the Alibaba Group will be the Keynote for this year’s Plenary Conference, Innovation in Action at the 15^th edition, to be held at the Aarhus Convention Center, Denmark from 2 – 7 April 2017.

 

The Keynote will begin on Wednesday, 5 April at 09:10 to 09:40 and take the format of a Fireside Chat with David Eades, Anchor and Journalist, BBC World. The session is entitled: Open Sesame: Unlocking the rich potential of new sporting horizons, and using innovation to drive sport to a new level of entertainment and fan engagement.

 

When Sydney hosted the Olympic Games in 2000, Alibaba was a Chinese start-up and not quite a year old. Fast forward 18 years and Alibaba has now grown into the world’s largest online and mobile commerce company. Alibaba is now expanding into media, entertainment and sport, recently forging an historic long-term partnership with the IOC through 2028, using technological innovation and know-how to contribute to the Olympic Movement.

 

As President, Michael Evans is responsible for leading and executing Alibaba Group’s international growth strategy. Commenting on Alibaba’s involvement in the SportAccord Convention, Evans said:

 

“We’re delighted to be taking part in the SportAccord Convention as this gives us an opportunity to   share some of the key insights and innovative approach Alibaba is taking when it comes to sport and entertainment, the growth of the digital and mobile market, as well as the exciting potential of the Chinese market for sport.”

 

Panel sessions and case studies following the Keynote will include:

 

• Plenary Panel Session entitled: Innovation – A permanent change revolution, or an opportunity to reset your sport?
• Innovation in the Business of Sport
• IF Innovation in Action – International Orienteering Federation
• Future Sports – Drone Racing

 

Nis Hatt, Managing Director of SportAccord Convention said, “We’re delighted Alibaba will open the Plenary Conference focused on Innovation in Action. With the increasing significance of sport in China in terms of fan engagement and business growth, there are significant opportunities to be had by everyone. Alibaba’s meteoric rise will most certainly have some bearing on what we hear during the Keynote.”

SportAccord Convention is the world’s premier and most exclusive annual event at the service of sport. It is focused on driving positive change internationally and dedicated to engaging and connecting; international sports federations, rights holders, organising committees, cities, press and media, businesses and other organisations involved in the development of sport.

 

The Convention is host to annual general meetings of governing bodies, and once again, will welcome a delegation from the International Olympic Committee. The 6-day Convention includes the Plenary Conference, City Forum, LawAccord, MediaAccord, the Exhibition, as well as the Opening Ceremony and Closing Event.

Challenger Ahmad Ahmad has ended Issa Hayatou’s 29-year reign as the President of the Confederation of African Football.

The head of the Madagascan Football Association claimed a 34-20 victory over his Cameroonian rival in the poll at the 39th Ordinary General Assembly at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Along with his role in African football, Hayatou has also been an honorary International Olympic Committee member since 2001.

He has held the position of CAF President since 1988, but the later years of his tenure have been blighted by allegations of corruption.

Birmingham have confirmed an interest in hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The announcement comes after the South African city of Durban pulled were ruled out of hosting the event, with financial difficulties cited as the reason.

David Grevemberg, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation, said the African city did not meet the criteria set by his organisation, and the search for a new host city had already begun. The decision is expected by the end of the current year.

Liverpool and Birmingham have both indicated a desire to replace Durban as hosts, with both countries already having communicated an interest in hosting the 2026 Games.

Councillor Ian Ward, deputy leader of the Birmingham city council, said: “We are aware of the decision from the Commonwealth Games Federation to seek a new host for the 2022 Games.

“Here in Birmingham we are already in the advanced stages of producing a detailed feasibility study on what would be needed for a truly memorable Games in the city.”

 

Location: Singapore

 

Closing Date: N/A

 

Overview:

This individual will be responsible for increasing FOX Sports’ digital reach in the market by driving an editorial strategy that produces relevant and compelling content to attract and engage sports fans.

• Set the editorial tone and direction, as well as editorial standards that all digital content must meet
• Build an editorial team of producers, curators, freelance contributors, content partners and social media experts to drive adoption of and engagement with FOX Sports Digital destinations
• Plan editorial coverage and calendar across a wide range of sports events
• Commission relevant and compelling digital content to attract and engage sports fans and grow FOX Sports’ audience reach in Asia
• Refine the content strategy based on insights from social and site analytics
• Partner with the linear production team to produce digital first content
• Manage and supervise the day-to-day editorial operations
• Collaborate with and leverage output from the global editorial team
• Co-ordinate with editorial teams in local markets to commission content native to the market
• Collaborate with sales team on content ideas for integrated sales
• Represent FOX Sports in relevant business, social and audience forums
• Budgeting and strategic planning

 

Skills & Experience Required

Essential:

• University degree in journalism or mass communication
• Excellent command of English, with solid subbing skills and a talent for writing
• Strong understanding of digital and social media
• Passion for sports
• Minimum of 10 years’ relevant work experience in digital sports
• Prior experience in sports journalism and running editorial is essential
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Strong strategic capability set with ability to rigorously define, prioritize and execute across a complex range of projects, stakeholders, and functional groups.
• Knowledgeable and in tune with latest digital trends and innovations

 

How to apply: visit http://www.sportsrecruitment.com/jobs/details/2532/editor-in-chief