According to the UK Green Party website the Green Party will try to achieve the following if they gain power at the 2010 general election:
CMS860 A strong school and amateur sports culture should, in turn, strengthen professional sport by both encouraging those who wish to pursue sport as a career and increasing the potential audience. Access to a sporting career should be available without discrimination to anyone with the desire and ability to pursue it.
CMS861 In addition to their commercial aspect, professional sporting teams often represent communities at local or national level and this social function needs to be recognised and supported by developing structures which would allow local stakeholders to participate in the running of the business.
CMS862 The Green Party would prefer professional sporting clubs to be mutually owned by the members rather than by shareholders. For those clubs which are currently Public Limited Companies, whose shares are traded internationally, the risk is always that distant shareholders, with no regard for the community the club is supposed to represent, will take over the club and sever all meaningful links with the local community. In some instances, clubs have even been moved to other towns and cities – making a mockery of any supposed local connection implied in the club’s name. We will introduce legal mechanisms to allow transformation of such PLCs into Mutual Organisations with agreement of stakeholders.
CMS863 Where clubs wish to remain as PLCs, the Green Party would like to see supporters’ trusts set up with the aim of achieving enough of a shareholding to prevent the club being taken over by outside financial interests.
CMS864 Local authorities should be permitted to invest in shares in professional sports clubs which operate in their area as a means of maintaining a connection between the club and its community. Any dividends paid to the authority must be reinvested into public sporting facilities or coaching programmes in the area.
CMS865 We believe in ‘safestanding’ for sports stadia. This means that spectators who wish to stand will be allocated their own space separated from seating only areas. There are examples of good practice in countries like Germany and we believe it is high time the UK adopted this practice. Currently (2007) UEFA does not allow the use of standing areas in grounds for its fixtures. We would seek to undo this ban where such areas are proven to be safe for spectators and where the police are satisfied that no crowd control issues would arise.
I would be interested to hear both positive and negative views on UK Green Party’s Professional Sport policies in the comments below?