Spanish Minister Calls For A Complete Ban on La Liga Clubs Sponsorship

Published: 14/07/2020 | Last Updated: 27/07/2020

spain complete ban on la liga sponsorship

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Spain has recently proposed a stringent Gambling Ad Restrictions act. As a part of this act, all gambling companies are not permitted to sponsor team equipment, stadium, uniform, and any other form of a club representation.

The act would be followed by a set of restrictions and also applied to the firms that sponsor cubs on youth apparel.

Ban on Shirt Sponsorship and Gambling Advertising

Alberto Garzón is the Minister of Consumer Affairs in Spain. He has proposed several measures and controls which will set strict regulations on betting firms along with the restrictions to sponsor ads and agreements. Presently, there are eight clubs in La Liga division that consist of a gambling firm as their major shirt sponsor.

The proposal also restricts gambling ads on radio, TV, and other media in the early morning hours. Last week, the minister sent these proposals to the commissioner of Europe with an intent to set up temporary restrictions that were set back in February. Now, the commissioner is expected to sanction the proposal.

As the Minister calls for a ban on temporary shirt sponsorships and gambling ads, it will become law in Spain if the commissioner approves this proposal. Moreover, the ban would comply with all law approvals that are part of the Spanish Royal Decree on Advertising.

The proposal expands the restriction of using the brand name or trade name of betting operators to determine an entertainment facility or sports facility. Now, the betting firms would no longer be allowed to present their brand on La Liga club shirts from next season.

However, there are three clubs that have sponsorship deals with gambling companies. Recently, Valencia, Mallorca, Osasuna, Alavés, Granada, Leganés, and Seville have logos of betting brands on their t-shirts. This latest agreement will also influence all these 17 teams that have a deal with betting companies.

Additional Prohibitions

In addition to restrictions on shirt sponsorships, the Royal Decree places limitations on gambling in several other ways. The one such includes restricting betting firms from sponsoring their names of stadiums.

Moreover, it restricts gambling ads through media outlets to just per hour a day and that must be conducted between 1 to 5 am. The firms will be also restricted to enable new gamblers along with bonuses.

The Royal Decree also places limits on welcome offers for new players at betting firms. Executives seek to put a ceiling of 100 Euros on bonuses and propose to limit welcome deals to the ones who have their betting accounts for more than one month.

Players should also prevent verification documents as they present it for three times to become eligible for such bonuses and offers. By observing such practices, the Minister proposed new laws to address the concern of gambling to the young generation.

Alberto Garzón concluded that sponsorships in any of the sports equipment or t-shirts will not be permissible. Now, gambling firms are already banned from showcasing their brand logos on youth t-shirts. By looking at the proposals, the House of Lords select committee also suggested putting a ban on gambling sponsorships and soccer teams.

State of Urgent Regulations

The recent proposal by the Spanish Minister was drafted right after the country introduced a state of urgent regulations for the soccer league. During March, a short ban on gambling ads on team t-shirts and media took effect. The regulations enabled the eight La Liga teams to renew their t-shirt sponsorship for the next season. Now, teams are left with the only option to remove their brand logos completely.

The state of emergency regulations was supposed to be applied from June 2020. Now, the Spanish Minister has sent the latest proposal to the commissioner to observe if the modifications become permanent.