Urbach On Csr

Journal of Sponsorship Volume 2 Number 1

Legal and regulatory updates The lessons learned from football: Sponsorships, contracts and ‘right of first refusal’
Ronald R. Urbach Received (in revised form): 8th August, 2008
Davis & Gilbert LLP, 1740 Broadway, New York NY 10019, USA; Tel: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]

Ronald R. Urbach is Co-chair of the Advertising, Marketing and Promotions Department of Davis & Gilbert LLP. Regarded as one of the leading advertising and marketing lawyers in the USA, Ron counsels clients on all aspects of the law governing the creation, production and distribution of advertising across multiplatform media channels. From the review of advertising copy and analysis of marketing programmes to federal,
In return for these sponsorship opportunities, MasterCard paid FIFA roughly $100m during its 16-year tenure as official sponsor. The successful relationship between the parties was perhaps best summarised by FIFA World Cup President, Joseph Blatter, who in a 2003 press release stated: ‘there are some things money can’t buy: [a] reliable partner . . . such as MasterCard is simply
Undeterred, FIFA and Visa executed the sponsorship agreement on 6th April, 2006. Two weeks later, MasterCard brought an action in the New York federal court alleging that FIFA materially breached its right to acquire the World Cup sponsorship rights. This lawsuit did not come as a surprise to FIFA. In fact, following approval of the Visa sponsorship by its Board, FIFA’s marketing director organised a meeting with the sole purpose of discussing ‘different excuses to give to MasterCard as to why the deal wasn’t done with them’.18 As a result of this brainstorming session, FIFA revisited a longstanding trademark dispute between the parties regarding FIFA’s efforts to register its overlapping soccer balls logo. When the case proceeded to trial, FIFA also argued that MasterCard’s acceptance of FIFA’s offer came after the expiration of the 90-day exercise period, thereby constituting a violation of the agreement. The court had little trouble in dismissing both of these arguments. Under Swiss law, which governed the agreement between FIFA and MasterCard, a party terminating a contract must prove ‘important, serious reasons that render the continuation of the contract intolerable’.19 Swiss case law further provides that ‘circumstances that are known at the time of the making of the