The increasing commercialisation of professional sport over the past years, coupled with the fact that it provides an excellent platform for politicians, has led the EU institutions to get involved in the governance of this activity. Decision makers are considering ever more closely and frequently those matters with a direct (e.g. free movement of professional sportspeople) or indirect impact (e.g. TV and new media rights’ selling) on sport.
 
The long-awaited White Paper on Sport, adopted by the European Commission in July 2007, did not establish the final EU policy framework for sport governance. It certainly identified a series of strategic orientations and concrete actions for implementation. However as regards some of the most contentious issues sport stakeholders are facing, it merely provides for initial thoughts, acting as a catalyst to trigger and fuel policy debates with and amongst sport stakeholders, national governments and the EU institutions.
 
The involvement of the EU institutions in the governance of European sport is to be long-term. We assist sport stakeholders to integrate this element in their development strategy so that they are in a position to effectively contribute to the (re)definition of the European model of sport and the shaping of the European framework in this field going forward.