EURO 2028: Commercial Rights Protection
Overview
The Union of European Football Associations' (UEFA) European Championship, also referred to as ‘EURO’, is a four yearly tournament. It is held between UEFA’s national member football associations. It is one of the most prestigious international men’s football tournaments. Scotland will co-host EURO 2028 as part of a joint UK and Ireland Championship. The event is expected to take place in Summer 2028 and last around four weeks.
We are working closely with UK Government, Welsh Government, Northern Ireland Executive and Irish Government on the operating environment for EURO 2028.
Matches in Scotland will be played at Hampden Park. It is one of 10 stadiums proposed to host EURO 2028. UEFA will confirm the final match split. Glasgow will be one of nine host cities across the UK and Ireland. Hampden Park and potential fan zones at locations in Glasgow will be ‘event zones’ during the event. Legislation for EURO 2020 originally set event zones at Hampden Park, Merchant City and George Square. when the event took place in 2021, the actual event zones were at Hampden Park and Glasgow Green.
Some mega sporting events require certain protections. For some, like the Olympic or Commonwealth Games, specific legislation needs to be put in place as a result. For EURO 2028, UEFA has requirements to protect its own and event sponsors’ commercial rights during the event. It also requires a ban on ticket touting. This survey is seeking views on the commercial rights protection measures that should be put in place in Scotland for this event.
UEFA’s requirements are not yet confirmed. The proposals set out for this survey are based on government guarantees made to UEFA when bidding for EURO 2028, and experience from EURO 2020, when Scotland was one of eleven host nations. That tournament was postponed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
An Act and Regulations were put in place in Scotland for EURO 2020. These were The UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Act 2020, The UEFA European Championship (Trading and Advertising) (Scotland) Regulations 2020, The UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Act 2020 (Ticket Touting Offence) (Exceptions for Use of Internet etc.) (Scotland) Regulations 2020, and The UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Act 2020 (Compensation for Enforcement Action) (Scotland) Regulations 2020. The Act and Regulations were also supported by guidance for businesses from Glasgow City Council. The Act and Regulations drew on legislation that was put in place for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. This experience and early discussion with UEFA suggests it is likely that rights protection legislation is required in order to host EURO 2028 matches in Scotland.
For EURO 2028, it is likely UEFA will require protections, including relevant criminal offences and enforcement powers, around:
- Unauthorised street trading
- Unauthorised advertising
- Unauthorised resale of tickets through secondary markets
Any proposed legislative measures would aim to meet UEFA’s requirements by:
- Protecting commercial rights by prohibiting unscrupulous touting of match tickets, often at significantly inflated prices, both in person and by electronic methods.
- Protecting UEFA’s commercial rights and those of its sponsors and prevent ambush marketing.
- Protecting the character and integrity of EURO 2028 by eliminating inappropriate advertising and street trading, including pedlars.
- Controlling advertising and street trading in designated areas to ensure the safety and the free flow of spectators to and from the event zones.
Read the consultation paper. The consultation paper contains full background information for this consultation. You may find it useful to read or refer to while responding.
Useful information about responding to this consultation
As you complete your response, each page will provide the option to 'Save and come back later' at the bottom. This means you can save your progress and return to the consultation at any time before it closes. If you don't use this feature and leave the consultation midway through, your response will be lost.
Once you have submitted your response, you can enter your email address to get a pdf copy of your answers sent to you.
On the 'About You' page at the end of this consultation, organisations will have the opportunity to tell us more about their work and/or how their response was informed.
After the consultation has closed there will be a few months delay before any responses are published. This is because we must check any responses to be published abide by our Terms of Use.
A analysis report will usually be published some months after the consultation has closed. This report will summarise the findings based on all responses submitted. It will be published on the Scottish Government website and you may be notified about it if you choose to share your email address with us. You can also join our consulation mailing list where we regularly list newly published analysis reports (as well as new consultations).
Why your views matter
This survey is aimed at:
- Street traders, media owners and other businesses who may be based in event zones and have external advertising, for example, bars and restaurants. These businesses could be affected by measures put in place for EURO 2028.
- People living in places where measures are likely to apply, and groups who represent them. Some measures, for example on street trading, would only affect event zones. Others, such as ticket touting measures, would apply throughout Scotland. We are therefore seeking views from people throughout Scotland.
We are seeking views on:
- What the impacts were of the measures put in place for UEFA EURO 2020, which took place in 2021.
- How business could be impacted by the measures that are likely required by UEFA for EURO 2028.
- What kinds of measures and exemptions would be most appropriate to meet likely UEFA requirements.
Give us your views
Interests
- Arts, Culture and Sport
- Main hub
Share
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook