Events Law Management - Essay Example

LECTURER Events Law Management EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report is meant to look at some legal aspects of events management law. It looks at some legal issues that event managers will always come across in their business. These issues are looked into from the perspective of a sports event. The primary focus of the report is the 18th Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. In this report, the nature of the Commonwealth Games is discussed briefly. Its primary objective and the participating nations are put across. The paper identifies that these games have a substantial political impact as well as cultural value especially to the participating nations. The paper then touches on three fundamental legal issues that were bound to affect the organisres of the event. The issues touched on are contracts, sponsorship and health and safety laws. The law of contracts is looked into in light of the fact that these organisers must engage other parties in the planning and running the event. As a result, they must appreciate the importance of contracts and use the relevant laws to ensure they get what they deserve The laws of sponsorship are discussed with the knowledge that the Australian Parliament passed a bill to regulate ambush marketing in the course of the games. Besides, there are many other legal dimensions of sponsorship laws that the organisers need to understand, and these are covered quite well in the section. Finally, the report looks into the aspect of health and safety for the parties involved in the event. The value of understanding the various aspects of this field are looked into and carefully covered. It is after this that a list of recommendations is drawn to show the importance of legal counsel and empowerment to organisers of such events as this. INTRODUCTION The law is an expansive field that covers all or most aspects of life. The law is especially special in the business world since in this field, all stakeholders come with diverse personal interests. As a result a code to govern the operations of business ventures is fundamental to ensure smooth running and a reference for conflict resolution when necessary. In the world of business, events form a substantial fraction. In fact, a single major event easily affects a host of other businesses in tremendous ways. The fact that events are key and lucrative business ventures means that a lot of entrepreneurs will want to venture in this form of business. Consequently, a clearly defined legal system is fundamental to help regulate the business processes related to events. In this paper, The Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Australia in the year 2006 will be the primary focus. The event will give a platform on which several issues will be discussed. This being a major event in which many stakeholders were involved in various capacities, there is a lot of legal framework engaged to enhance smooth running. The key issues that will be looked into for purposes of this paper are the following: contracts, sponsorship laws and health and safety laws. EVENT CONTEXT The 18th Commonwealth Games were held in the Australian city of Melbourne from 15th to 26th march 2006. The event was of so great a magnitude that it is said to have outdone the 1956 Olympics held in the same city. The event entailed the six original sports of the Commonwealth Games. These games are: track and field, wrestling, swimming and diving, rowing, boxing and bowls. Besides these games other sports were also included. The team sports were basketball, netball, rugby sevens and hockey and others were table tennis, triathlon and cycling. The key objective of the Commonwealth Games is to bring together athletes from throughout the Commonwealth to compete and celebrate sport and culture. All participants are brought together due to a common history and they all share English as a common language. The common history shared is the fact that all were once part of the British Empire and thus they share the English language. These nations formed the primary market for the event in that it was a heavily broadcast and closely followed event. Besides, a lot more stakeholders without the Commonwealth also formed a significant target market for the event. These games are also referred to as the ‘friendly games’. The athletes and officials from the participating countries come together to enjoy friendship, entertainment and sporting action in a friendly environment. As a result this event is deemed to have substantial political implications. It is for this reason that a series of boycotts to the games was exercised in earlier years as a protest to the apartheid tendencies in South Africa. The games are also deemed as a formidable force in socio-cultural exchange. For this reason, the games were not only a scene of sporting performance, but also a host of other entertaining activities. There were a lot of dancers, actors and musicians from the 71 participating countries. In this way, a comprehensive cultural exchange program took place near the city. The Festival Melbourne 2006 is actually deemed the biggest free cultural event ever held in Australia, where performance, visual arts and a youth program were the key features. LEGAL ISSUES 1. Contracts in General A contract is a formal agreement which is legally binding. It is usually between two or more parties and has a particular purpose. In a general sense, contracts are based on a one party offering to give or do something in return for something else and in a clearly defined set of terms. Once the parties involved agree, then the contract is valid. In the case of the Commonwealth games, a lot of contracts had to be entered into by the organizers in order to ensure successful achievement of their objectives. The organizing committee had to enter into contracts with such parties as the Commonwealth Games Federation, suppliers, construction and maintenance firms, participating athletes the facilitating officials, volunteers and caretakers, broadcasting agencies, the city authorities of Melbourne, the sponsors and many other parties. While entering into the many contracts a lot of care must be taken owing to the fact that a lot of details are involved, and breaching any of these can lead to enforcement by a court and subsequent losses. It is thus advisable that the client gets to understand the various forms of contracts they will possibly come across or have to enter into. It is also necessary to understand the process through which the contracts are entered into and how best to develop and keep strong material support as evidence for the contract. We have oral contracts which are entered into quite often in daily life. These include such deals as buying simple goods like clothes or a promise to give money in return for assistance. These kinds of contracts were not the best for the client to enter into at any one given time, since they can easily be dishonoured and denied. Written contracts are better and thus the advisable nature of contracts for the client. The contract document itself is a good piece of evidence for the contract. The contracts the client got into were crucial because they determined to a great extent the success levels of the event. In fact, in most of these cases, statutory law would require that the two parties involved in the contract bear the concerned documents. These documents needed to be duly signed and in the presence of adequate witnesses. Elements of Contracts While developing the contracts, the client should have been keen to observe some criteria so as to develop the contracts with complete knowledge and understanding. The first element to consider is to ensure that the parties understand each other. The mutual understanding of the contents of the contract is fundamental. In the case of a constructing firm for example, the committee’s intention to renovate the Melbourne Cricket Grounds must have tallied with the contraction firm’s intention. In that case the contract is valid and enforceable, After the mutual agreement, the next key criterion was an offer by one party and acceptance by the other. This may take a process where a series of offers are made by both parties until they are able to come to one acceptable by both. For example, the client may have tabled several desired venues for use in the games to the relevant authorities. The authorities may have suggested what they deemed better and upon negotiation, the two parties came to an agreement. It is the agreement that would form part of the contract. Mutual consideration is the next key element of contracts for the client. The parties should exchange something of value with regard to their agreement. The committee would for example pay a given amount of money to the person who developed the logo for the games. Performance or delivery of appropriate goods or service is another element. The contracted party in the case of the logo every responsibility to deliver the desired logo. Good faith is the other key element that should have been organized in the process of carrying out the contract. All parties should be working towards delivering what them other party expects of them as per the contract. Finally, the two parties must be working within the public policy in order to fully validate their contract. It is not possible to enforce a contract that goes against the other laws. For example, it would be wrong to build a swimming pool that is five meters longer than the standard size to disadvantage some athletes and seek to enforce such a contract. The client would need comprehensive understanding of these concepts regarding contracts. In so doing, they would enter into such deals with sobriety and be able to pursue their rights to the farthest possible extent if the other party failed to honour their pledge. They would also have a clearer understanding of the legal implications of failing to honour their obligations. 2. Sponsorship Laws Sponsorship has grown into an indispensable part of sporting events, and especially for such major events as the Commonwealth Games. As a result the organising committee for the games needed adequate understanding of the legal dynamics of sponsorship in the event. It is notable that the Australian Parliament passed a bill that sought to regulate the sponsorship and licensing activity around these games. The sponsors, together with the merchandise, ticket sales and TV rights, were to bring to the organisers a lot of the much needed funds (estimated at about 126 million Australian dollars). They, in return, expected to get adequate returns from the publicity earned and their marketing ventures. The sponsorship deals reached at in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games should have sought to achieve these objectives and within the laid down regulations. Legitimate and Illegitimate Marketers The sponsors’ main aim is to exploit the marketing opportunity offered by sporting events due to the large audience captured. It is important for the officials, especially the organising committee, to know how to fully exploit the opportunities that these sponsors have and thus earn maximum benefits. At the same time, as identified in the bill, there are other promoters who may seek to market their products without sponsoring the events. The organising committee should have been adequately advised on how to use the law to keep these marketers away from such undue benefits. Legal Obligations It was important for the committee to also know that they bore legal obligations as a result of the sponsorships. Adherence to such important policies as the sporting law, tax regulations, advertising, intellectual property, broadcasting, and image rights among others. Adequate advice on how to go about their business while adhering to the regulations affecting them in any way was fundamental. In so doing the organisers will be well placed to get the very best in the sponsorship deals as well as honour their obligations as the law requires. The organisres should be adequately advised on the approach to use while designating the main sponsors and the other sponsorship categories. They should be clear on who qualifies to brand a given field or merchandise and why and strictly adhere to the regulations. The broadcasting rights should be sold out in a fair way. The terms under which the agreements are arrived at should have remained constant at all times. Adhering to these requirements of the law and observing high standards of integrity in dealing with sponsors would keep the organisers from possible litigation 3. Health and Safety Laws The health and safety of all the stakeholders in the even was a key and expansive field. The athletes and officials put up in a village specially constructed for them. The capacity of this village was about seven thousand residents. The health and safety of such a large number of guests was not to be overlooked at all. There had to be the right conditions for all the residents in spite of their diverse backgrounds: standard sanitation, healthy food and supply of clean water among other details. Any trace of compromised health and safety standards could have led to serious accusations and possible losses. The committee had to also look into the safety of the athletes, officials and spectators while at the field. There had to be a comprehensive plan to ensure that from the time of entry to exiting a stadium, all concerned parties were safe and secure. It had to ensure that the facilities were standard, the sitting arrangement for the spectators was safe and the routes in and out of the facilities were user-friendly. The noise, water, air and matter pollution levels were to be avoided as much as possible in the interest of both the visitors and the residents. There had to be a comprehensive emergency procedure that would ensure the maximum possible safety for all incase of such occurrences. Such features as enough escape routes, fire-fighting equipment and an emergency response unit would be necessary. Availability of adequate standby ambulances, and first-aid equipment was also to be considered in the safety measures detail. Besides, the committee had the all important task of ensuring that the environment was adequately protected. That would involve engagement of experts to do the environmental impact analysis and give the recommendations. Following such guidelines would consequently play a major role in ensuring that the environment did not get damaged and hence endangering the lives of the residents. The committee would also need to develop a charter to govern spectator behavior, as well as involve adequate security personnel and systems to ensure that no one got victimized due to any result. Where necessary regulating what was allowed into the facilities for any purpose may have been necessary to ensure that eventualities of violence were kept at an irreducible minimum. RECOMMENDATIONS After the study of the games, the following are deemed necessary recommendations for the team which organised the event. The legal aspect of organising such an event is wide and comprehensive. The consequences of failing to meet the legal standards would be far reaching. As a result, it would be wise to ensure that adequate legal advice is sought on all relevant matters or incorporated a legal expert in the committee. The committee should have been advised on the relevance and value of contracts in their operations. These would prove very important in their dealing with other parties as they would help achieve the desired results. The committee should have gotten adequate training on the relevance of the legislation regarding sponsorship. They should have been assisted in developing the charter with which to govern involvement of sponsors of any magnitude. The committee should have developed a comprehensive plan on how to cater for the guests (athletes, officials, volunteer staff and spectators) in their various capacities in order to minimize hazard levels. Qualified environmental professionals should have been involved in analyzing the best ways to avoid adverse environmental impact. Emergency plans should also have been done by professionals to ensure the highest possible levels. These would have substantially reduced chances of negligence. REFERENCES Contract Law- An Introduction: http://www.expertlaw.com/library/business/contract_law.html Parliament of Australia: Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games (Indicia and Images) Protection Bill 2005. http://www.aph.gov.au/Library/pubs/BD/2005-06/06bd007.htm Guy Masterman. Strategic Sports Event Management: An International Approach. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004 Read More