This episode is also available as a blog post: http://sportslawandpolicyreviewreporter.com/2022/02/10/match-fixing-and-associated-deterrence-mechanisms-need-for-a-special-legislation-in-india/

Match Fixing and Associated Deterrence Mechanisms – Need for a Special Legislation in India

The uncertainty of the result is an essential part of a sport’s desirability. When matches are fixed, there is a loss of integrity in the sport, and fans feel distanced from the sport they love. Matches get fixed when inducements are offered to players/teams to underperform to drive the game to a particular result. Fixers tend to bet on the match, knowing the result which they have already fixed or which player will underperform, et al. These days, spot-fixing is another phenomenon that is becoming increasingly prevalent. It is essentially a form of manipulation in which an isolated aspect of a game, typically unrelated to the final result or outcome of the game, is pre-determined and fixed to ensure a specific result in a wager placed on such aspect. 

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://sportslawandpolicyreviewreporter.com/2021/10/02/unearthing-all-the-red-flags-in-the-uefas-swiss-model/

Unearthing all the Red Flags in the UEFA’s Swiss Model 

Despite being the face of competitive balance and the European Super League’s (ESL) ardent attacker, Aleksander Čeferin is receptive to reforming the UCL rules. The organization is predicted to pick a path for the UEFA Club Competitions (UCC) by 2021, applicable from 2024-25 which would witness an increase of four teams in a championship instead of groups. 

The reforms fail to reconcile the wants of fans with those of the clubs – there’s a defenestration of sporting merit, an imminent, disproportionate surge in revenue for the elite, and a disregard for competitive balance. The authors discuss how these ramifications demand the EU step in to rectify this UCL model, which is but an ESL, by stealth.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://sportslawandpolicyreviewreporter.com/2021/10/24/super-shoes-and-the-controversy-around-technological-doping%ef%bf%bc/

SUPER SHOES AND THE CONTROVERSY AROUND TECHNOLOGICAL DOPING

If you watched the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, you would have noticed that athletes wearing Nike’s super shoes dominated athletic events. The runners wearing Nike Vaporfly super shoes won over 60% of the total medals at the Olympics. The athletes using these shoes were also involved in multiple records being broken in the 1,500-metre, 5,000-metre, and 10,000-metre events. 

This raised a question of whether the shoes are a form of technological doping.

But what is technological doping? The World Anti-Doping Agency recognises technological doping as a threat but the responsibility to ban the equipments is left to the discretion of the sporting bodies of the respective sports.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://sportslawandpolicyreviewreporter.com/2021/11/03/uefa-club-competitions-financial-background-of-the-new-structure/

UEFA Club Competitions – Financial background of the new structure

The new cycle of the UEFA club competitions kicked off in this 2021/22 season, bringing drastic changes to European football’s landscape. While the premier competition, the UEFA Champions League (UCL), remains untouched, the governing body shook up the format of the UEFA Europa League (UEL) with the inception of a tertiary continental competition, the UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL). The new tournament features smaller European clubs, who most likely would have not been able to play international football, and offers them a platform to kick off from.

But how is UEFA financing an additional competition?

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://sportslawandpolicyreviewreporter.com/2021/10/26/deconstructing-the-controversy-around-the-saudi-takeover-of-newcastle-united/

DECONSTRUCTING THE CONTROVERSY AROUND THE SAUDI TAKEOVER OF NEWCASTLE UNITED

The English Premier League is at a crucial juncture in football history right now. The takeover  of the historic Newcastle United Football Club, a process that commenced in April 2020, was completed on 7th October 2021. Marred by controversies for 19 months, a consortium led by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) has finally got ownership of the club for a price of $413 million. However, the legal challenges are far from over, as other clubs in the Premier League have raised objections over the takeover.

The 19 other teams in the league held an emergency meeting on 18th October where they voted to temporarily block teams from striking commercial deals with businesses that have links to their owners. These deals are called Related Party Transactions and have always been a contentious issue in European football. They allege that the EPL failed to apply its Owners’ and Directors Test properly on the Saudis, while Newcastle is liable to breach regulations of the Financial Fair Play rules.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://sportslawandpolicyreviewreporter.com/2022/01/18/the-2021-faux-rmula-1-world-championship-a-legal-analysis%ef%bf%bc/

The 2021 Faux-rmula 1 World Championship – A legal analysis 

The 2021 Formula 1 world championship has been one of the most entertaining and controversial seasons in F1 since its inception. The reigning world champion, Lewis Hamilton had seemed to run out of the dominant car that won him 6 world titles and the young lion, Max Verstappen always claimed that a competitive car would prove that he was world championship material and this season his team, Red Bull Racing, delivered a car that would fetch him his maiden title. However, this victory is far from a clean and fair one.The catastrophe of the Abu Dhabi grand prix has been a problem faced by sports fans around the world. From VAR to the FIA, the authorities that are meant to make the game fair have started to have a less than ideal influence on the game.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://sportslawandpolicyreviewreporter.com/2022/01/21/is-your-favourite-sport-under-threat/

Is Your Favourite Sport Under Threat? 

The short answer is yes, but the important question is how? It’s important to understand how climate change is a threat to sports and most important of it all, how sports can be an asset and a flag bearer in the extremely urgent cause of global warming. Additionally, sport is not only vulnerable to climate change, but is also one of the highest contributors to greenhouse emissions and pollution.