This Friday, the Premier League adapted its regulations on club sponsorship, with the endorsement of a majority of them, in response to the legal battle led by Manchester City, opposed to this type of regulations.
In February, the English league tightened the rules on commercial sponsorship with companies or entities linked to club owners, through the Associated Party Transactions (APT), with the aim that agreements represent fair market value.
However, the rapid growth of Manchester City, acquired in 2008 by an investment fund from the United Arab Emirates, has gone hand in hand with the massive support of Etihad Airways, an airline based in Abu Dhabi whose name appears on the elastic of the ‘Citizens’ in addition to giving its name to the stadium.
The current quadruple champion of England tried to eliminate these regulations, considering them illegal and discriminatory, through litigation between them and the Premier League.
The decision, made public in October, gave rise to very different interpretations, with both parties declaring that their claims had been satisfied.
Manchester City considered that all APT rules were henceforth void. On the contrary, the Premier League assured that they were judged necessary and legitimate, and that only some of them should be amended or deleted.
The league organized a vote this Friday to adopt those amendments and the majority of clubs supported them, but City did not.
“The Premier League carried out a detailed consultation with the clubs, relying on the opinions of independent experts, to draft changes to the regulations that respond to the needs of the system,” the Premier wrote in a statement.
Broadly speaking, the APT rules “were introduced to provide a robust mechanism to safeguard the economic stability, integrity and competitive balance of the league,” he recalled.
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