On Monday, 3 February 2014, Miguel Cardenal, the Minister of Sports, gave the lecture «Sports in the 21st Century: Economics, Legislation and Big Events», organized by the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences together with the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences.
The lecture, which took place in the UIC Graduate Hall, was based on questions that the audience posed to Miguel Cardenal. The topics included the debts of sports clubs, television rights for football matches, the ticket prices of football matches and the transformation of some clubs into corporations. Cardenal also gave the students some tips on how to set their professional future on track for a career in sports.
In his lecture, the Minister of Sports referred many times to the recognition that Spanish sports have been receiving abroad. He said that, according to the latest tourism surveys done at the border, 10% of tourist visits to Spain are sports-related. For this reason, he encouraged students in particular to consider the opportunities the field offers, which in many cases “have yet to be fully exploited”.
In reference to the debate about television rights for football matches, Cardenal informed the students that the government is working on a law that will make distribution fairer while keeping in mind the position of other European countries on the matter. As for in-debt sports clubs, Cardenal discussed the solution to the problem. “Two systems of economic control have been introduced. One is the regulation of economic control, thanks to which personnel costs have dropped by 15%”, he said.
One of the questions asked was about the price differences for attending football matches. The speaker explained that the price varies from country to country mainly due to social factors. “In countries with a long football tradition, tickets tend to be more expensive because it’s a big show”, he said. However, he said that for certain matches tickets should not be so expensive. He put forth the example of Malaga, a club that is trying to expand the use of VIP ticket packages for certain fans.
Miguel Cardenal is an expert in labour law and social security as well as sports law. Throughout his professional career, he has worked in various organizations in the world of sports and has been a consensual member of the Competition Committee of the Royal Spanish Federation of Football and the Spanish League of Professional Football. In January 2012, he was appointed president of the Spanish Sports Council.
