LITIGATION TRENDS 2025 | 119 T O C E M P E S G A N T I I P C A P R O W C S P O R T C O N T A C T I N T A P P P A T C C L S E C Opening the Floodgates: Manchester City v. Premier League The Premier League is entangled in a variety of complicated legal disputes with one of its most famous and successful participants: Manchester City football club. The legal conflict reflects a profound development within the sphere of professional sports generally: that participants – whether individuals, teams or wider stakeholders – are no longer afraid to challenge, by way of litigation, the existing status quo. This is a novel development given the once-accepted power dynamics within professional sport generally, suggesting that professional sports bodies and regulators – who have historically governed with little to no resistance – no longer ‘rule the roost’. As Man City exemplifies, certain participants now have the might, means and motivation to fight. S T The legal conflict reflects a profound development within the sphere of professional sports generally: that participants are no longer afraid to challenge, by way of litigation, the existing status quo. Arianna Scavetti Partner Washington, D.C. arianna.scavetti@weil.com Hayley Lund Partner London hayley.lund@weil.com Yehudah Buchweitz Partner New York yehudah.buchweitz@weil.com Sports CROSS-PRACTICE FOCUS Man City’s Disputes with the Premier League In 2023, the Premier League charged Man City with 115 breaches of the Premier League’s own “Financial Fair Play” rules (the “FFP rules”) and “Profit and Sustainability Rules” (the “PSR”), which sought to limit club losses to a net threshold and pin aggregate spend to overall club revenue. Man City disputed these charges and commenced arbitral proceedings, which took place (confidentially, although with much press interest and speculation) in the International Dispute Resolution Centre in late 2024. A decision is expected by mid-2025. Amidst the backdrop of these proceedings, in 2024, Man City commenced additional arbitral proceedings against the Premier League in relation to its “Associated Party Transaction” rules (the “APT rules”). The APT rules, in a similar vein to the FFP rules and the PSR, sought to stop clubs from using inflated sponsorship deals with companies linked to their owners and, at the same time, guarantee fair market value on intra-group transfers between clubs with the same ownership. Man City disputed the imposition of the APT rules, alleging that the Premier League was deliberately stifling the economic freedoms of particular clubs in 118 | Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
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