Manchester City has taken on a new legal challenge against the new sponsor rules of the Premier League.
The lawyers of the Premier League Champions have contacted the Premier League officials to find a new hearing of arbitration about the transaction rules of Associated Party (APT).
The APT rules regulate commercial deals that are concluded between clubs and companies related to their owners, making them of 'real market value'.
The controversial rules are intended to prevent the richest clubs from blowing up such deals and spending more on players to ensure that the Premier League remains competitive.
It seems that Manchester City is not happy with the changes to the rules and is understood that they consider the rules as anti-competitive.
In November the English champions were defeated when a majority of the top clubs voted for the changes in APT rules, which were inspired by the city last June by a legal challenge. The city considered the rules as part of “a tyranny of the majority”.
Both parties claimed the victory last October after an arbitration panel discovered that some elements of the APT rules of the competition were illegal.
The Premier League asked clubs to vote on changes that, according to her, legally and comply with the British competition legislation. This included adding shareholders' loans to the assessment of the Fair Market Value (FMV), the removal of some of the changes made earlier this year in APT rules and changes in the way clubs gain access to the competition database of the competition which is used to make FMV decisions.
Both parties claimed the victory last October after an arbitration panel discovered that some elements of the APT rules of the competition were illegal.
But the Premier League secured the at least 14 votes it needed from member clubs to pass on the changes, with City, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest that they voted against them.
The Premier League director Richard Masters has written a letter to Premier League clubs that inform them about the last legal steps of Manchester City -The letter was sent yesterday afternoon.
In the letter, Masters says: “The Premier League remains strong of the opinion that the amendments adopted in November were legal and the APT rules meet all the requirements for competition law. We believe that the new arbitration must be as quickly as possible and, are resolved and, for that purpose, it is that the same tribunal must be appointed to hear the new case.
“The parties are currently corresponding to further instructions. He added:” The APT rules remain fully in force and effect and clubs remain needed to meet all aspects of the system. “
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