Cédric Roussel, President of the study group on “Sports Economics”, together with his colleagues Céline Calvez and Pierre-Alain Raphan, sponsored the Sports Bill, which was adopted in the first reading at the National Assembly.
“I am very pleased that the National Assembly has addressed the subject and is making concrete progress in several areas for the sports world,” commented the Nice MP from the LRM group.
“We need to revitalize the sports economy three years ahead of the Paris Olympic Games. New avenues have been proposed, and they will have their path, and I intend to go further than this initial step,” he added.
This text mainly includes measures on the governance of sports federations (gender parity, a three-term limit for a president, extended transparency obligation). It also enshrines in law the already existing platform designed to combat match-fixing and includes a provision aimed at combating illegal sports streaming, which has skyrocketed in recent years. Initially, a measure was planned in the audiovisual bill, which is not included in the final text.
Regarding parity, the government specified that, in regional bodies, for federations where the proportion of one gender’s licensees is less than 25%, the statutes would “provide a minimum proportion of seats for people of each gender, which can take into account the gender distribution of licensees, without being lower than 25%.” This parity will be implemented gradually since an exemption from full parity will be possible for future federal elections, with at least 40% for national bodies and proportional representation for regional bodies.
The possibility for professional leagues to create a company for the commercialization and management of audiovisual exploitation rights, as strongly desired by the Professional Football League (LFP), was also voted on.
MPs adopted a government amendment allowing high-level athletes to participate in governing bodies.
The text will now be reviewed by the Senate.
