Italian football
Last weekend, four Serie A fixtures were suspended. This weekend, five Serie A fixtures taking place in affected territories in the north of Italy will be played behind closed doors in response to a new decree passed by the Italian government. This will have a direct impact on the clubs’ revenue. Clubs will miss out on ticket and other match day revenue for games played behind closed doors.
Inter Milan are reportedly refunding fans who purchased tickets to their Europa League game, which is also being played behind closed doors. Juventus, however, are reportedly not refunding fans for tickets purchased for the Derby d’Italia against Inter in Turin on Sunday. Last season, the same fixture at the Allianz Stadium generated revenues of €3,100,000 for Juventus. Juventus may be able to rely on force majeure provisions in their ticketing terms and conditions if they decide not to refund fans for their tickets (if they included such provisions in their terms and conditions). Force majeure clauses allow the party seeking to rely on the clause to exclude its liability for not being able to perform the contract due to events beyond their control. If this type of clause is contained within the ticketing terms and conditions, subject to any limitations under Italian law, it would permit Juventus not to refund fans for tickets they have purchased, because the requirement to play the fixture behind closed doors is an event beyond their reasonable control – it is mandated by a decree passed by the government. Our sister Global IP & Tech blog discusses the interaction between the coronavirus and force majeure, and the effect it could have on your commercial contracts, in greater detail.