You're listening to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on State Aid in Sport.

State aid, which gives a company an unfair competitive advantage over its commercial rivals,

is explicitly forbidden by the EU's single market rules, but there are exceptions.

Such as the financing of sports infrastructure in the interest of all citizens.

But the boundaries between the general interest and economic profit are becoming blurred,

forcing the Commission to rethink the rules of the game.

Want to know more? Stay with us.

Sport makes money. Lots of money. In 2004, its economic impact in EU was estimated at more than 400 billion euros.

That's 3.7% of EU GDP and it generated 15 million jobs.

However, thanks to its social and cultural role, the sports sector has traditionally

benefited from an exemption on state aid rules applying to the single market, notably

for the construction of large sports infrastructure, such as local football fields or

swimming pools, which can be enjoyed by all citizens.

In 2014, this general attitude was set in stone when the Commission adopted a general

block exemption regulation clarifying the types of sport infrastructure investments that would

benefit from an exemption from the EU's general laws on state aid. So what are the conditions?

Well, one of the conditions is that the sports facility is not to be used exclusively by a single professional user and that access is granted on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis.

But there are also financial conditions, such as a ceiling for investment aid of 30 million euros per project.

Eight measures which do not comply with these criteria need to be notified to the Commission,

which will then assess the compatibility with EU rules on state aid.

So what do these rules say? Let's take a look.

According to the EU treaties, a measure constitutes state aid if it grants an economic advantage to one

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