A Sports Act with only one surprise

(published in the daily SME)
 

The Slovak sports movement has been waiting many years for a good Sports Act. In the proposed new one, the surprise is a ban on entrepreneurship for all sports clubs, amateur or professional. When in June 2007 the coalition majority rejected the opposition’s draft Sports Act without any real debate or expert discussion, voices in parliament promised that a comprehensive, improved proposal would follow soon.

Now, after the comment procedure, the Ministry of Education’s draft Act on the Organisation and Support of Sport is waiting to be placed on the government’s agenda. It’s not surprising that the new law doesn’t repeal the current Act on Physical Culture, meaning we will have two laws on the same topic. No one cares. 

It’s not surprising that the draft illogically claims that rulings of the European Court of Justice do not apply, even though one is cited in the explanatory report. That interests no one.

It’s not surprising that the draft includes many paragraphs without enforceable standards, lacks definitions of key terms, and contains verbal fluff and gems like “an athlete who is a member of the national sports team is a national team athlete.”

It’s not surprising that the section on the status of professional athletes was removed, with a promise to address it in a third (!) future law—which means it won’t happen in this electoral term.

Nor will athletes be able to resolve contract disputes with clubs in an independent arbitration court established by law—only through internal federation rules. There’s no time, apparently, to address the legal vulnerability of a few hundred professional athletes, and player associations remain ineffective.

It’s also not surprising that the Ministry of Education is to coordinate not only state bodies but also other legal entities (federations, clubs, the Slovak Olympic Committee, the Slovak Paralympic Committee) in implementing sports policy. Slovak sport has no issue being properly coordinated and will fulfil vaguely defined tasks.

It’s not even surprising that the draft fails to lay out basic rules for financing sport from public sources, which should be a core part of any Sports Act. No obligation to distribute subsidies via competition. No criteria for granting subsidies. No generosity to borrow from the opposition’s draft. No creativity to propose a new system.

But the law does contain one major surprise: a new provision banning all sports clubs, amateur or professional including those receiving no public funding from engaging in business activities. All club income must be used only for sports development and operations. There’s no room here to delve into the constitutional aspects of banning entrepreneurship for sports clubs. But this kind of restriction is substantively very damaging to clubs and to sport in general.

It would make the entire sector less attractive to new investment, reducing access to much-needed financial resources. Several top-tier football clubs have long been looking for foreign co-owners or investors. Faced with a good offer, few would hesitate. Plans some clubs had to go public in a few years? Forget it. All sports would benefit from more capital—even from abroad.

Slovakia is swimming against the tide, resisting trends common in developed countries. If the government fears that profits might benefit club owners and investors, it should be reminded that money can be siphoned out of sport in far less transparent ways—like overpriced supplier contracts. The explanatory report acknowledges that global elite sport has become a major commercial phenomenon involving large sums of money, yet Slovak sport suffers from a lack of funding. The ministry wants to attract more money into sport by banning clubs from doing business. It’s hard to believe this isn’t a bureaucratic blunder, yet if the bill passes, it will represent the official stance of the government, even though neither the program manifesto nor the legislative plan mentions any ban on entrepreneurship in sports.

Following restrictions in pensions and health insurance—areas involving public money—this would be the first time the government bans business in a purely private sector. Is a ban on business in culture or audiovisual production next? In many respects, the draft contradicts its own explanatory report, the government-approved legislative plan, and the program statement. But the point was simply to come up with any draft at all, move it to the government without internal conflict, send it to parliament, and easily pass it. Slovak sport, you’re finally getting the law you deserve.

Jozef Tokos (The author works in sports law and helped draft the opposition proposal for a Sports Act)