Five sports duties for the Government

Once the first government of the coalition of democracy has been formed, the sport awaits pending reforms, although it will be necessary to wait for José Manuel Rodriguez Uribes , new Minister of Culture and Sport, to appoint the Secretary of State to assume the presidency of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), a position currently held by María José Rienda . Whether or not it is ratified, or substituted, the decision of a very sensitive and highly visible position will be taken in Moncloa. Rodríguez Uribes is a party man. For now, a candidate to succeed Rienda is Pepu Hernández . From then on, the petitions will be accumulated in the CSD during a legislature with duties for the Government and conflicts to be resolved.

1. Develop a law that regulates professional sports

A new Sports Law is necessary to replace that of 1990, obsolete in many aspects, and to regulate more clearly professional sports. In the last legislature, after the arrival of Pedro Sánchez to the Government, a draft bill was prepared. The CSD of Rienda received 151 contributions from sports groups, although the first text, which devoted a large part of articles to measures to boost women's sport, did not find a majority consensus before returning to the drawer, given the call for elections. One of the reasons was the inclusion of article 90.2, which prohibited professional leagues from marketing rights of other federations. It was known as the article 'antiThebes' and associated with the war with the Federation. Several federations that could be harmed economically opposed. Now it is necessary to rescue or modify it, but if the text is not abstracted from partisan wars and dyes, it will be of little use to a sector that is very refractory to politics. The document that sealed the pact for the Coalition Government between the PSOE and Podemos refers, in points 6.8 and 6.9, to the elaboration of a new Sports Law, framed in a strategic plan that fosters school and university sports, their relationship with integration, food and health, and give greater impetus to women's sports. For Alberto Palomar , jurist and specialist in sports law, it is necessary to distinguish that part of the "order to be placed in professional sports." "We have to regulate it as what it is, an economic activity, and for this we must define a financing scheme, as well as the nature of the regulatory institutions and those that compete, even if they can go public or not," Palomar continues, who worked for a time with the new minister and doctor of law. “Similarly,” he continues, “it is necessary to delve into the rights of athletes and face aspects such as the taxation of irregular income or the functioning of image societies. These are key issues for the functioning of the sports industry and that belong to a different area from health or education ».

2. Limit the regional teams after the agreement with the PNV.

The nationalist support of the Government can mean the revival of the international representation of the Catalan and Basque teams, a focus of conflict, even diplomatic, in the past. The agreement of PSOE and PNV, by which the nationalist formation gave the yes to Pedro Sánchez in the investiture, says, in its point 11, that “channels to promote the international representation of Euskadi in the cultural and sports field will be opened”. The legal coverage is also fragile, because sport is not included among the exclusive powers of the State, reflected in article 149 of the Constitution, and, therefore, its organization corresponds to the provisions of the autonomous statutes. One more fact to consider if in the future there would be a reform of the Magna Carta, but which, in the current context, recommends a preventive strategy of the Government.

3. Find a clear fiscal framework, not just raise the personal income tax

The increase in personal income tax to the highest income (2% for an average of 130,000 euros and 4% to those exceeding 300,000) will have a direct impact on the most important athletes. In the case of football, with a minimum salary of 155,000 euros in First, the affectation will be collective, with a cost estimated by the League of 80 million euros, which, in many cases, will impact on the clubs, since a good part of The players negotiate in net. However, this is not the main concern of the sector in fiscal matters. Football, in general, has been the subject of numerous inspections, the most widespread referring to image rights, without the need for them to be carried by offshore companies. The group considers that the Treasury has changed criteria and there are many clubs that have renounced to use the formula to pay 15% of the salary through image rights, something allowed by law, for fear of inspections. For this and other conflicts, such as the agents' commissions, football asks the Government for a clear fiscal framework, since it currently considers that there is legal uncertainty.

4. Avoid the toxicity of the war between Federation and League

Jaime Lissavetzky and Miguel Cardenal , two of the secretaries of State who interacted the most in the football war, are well aware of its toxicity. He contaminated them. It should be taken into account by the person chosen for the position, which will be claimed as a mediator. The old conflicts of Javier Tebas with Ángel Villar have intensified with the arrival of Luis Rubiales , more frontal.

5. Understand the opportunity of the Barcelona-Pyrenees candidacy

With the support of Alejandro Blanco , president of the COE, a platform of Catalan civil society promotes a candidacy for the 2030 winter Olympic Games that would involve part of Catalonia and Aragon. Deliberately far from politics, it is supported by businessmen and personalities outside the nationalists who govern the Generalitat, and who find in Barcelona-Pyrenees an opportunity to build broken bridges through the Catalan conflict. They will ask for their support to the Government, while Madrid has not ruled out a new attempt, although 2032 already has a fearsome rival: the two united Koreas. The 2030 Soccer World Cup, also strategic, is on the table. The Government must choose your bet. In the short term, this year Rodríguez Uribes will see his first Games, in Tokyo, with a reduced ADO program that will have to be reconsidered. Blanco believes that before we have to define "the sport model we want and its financing". Bet on double track, public and private, and wait, like others, for a Patronage Law.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• PNV
• José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes
• PSOE
• Pedro Sanchez
• Personal income tax
• Barcelona
• We can
• Pepu Hernandez
• Luis Rubiales
• Aragon
• Catalonia
• Javier Thebes
• Madrid
• sports

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