The Legal Qualification of the Athlete Sponsorship Agreement
An athlete's sponsorship agreement in Georgia falls within the frame of advertising law: Article 13 of the Law on Advertising defines sponsorship as the contribution of physical and legal persons to the activity of other physical and legal persons — in the form of money, property, results of intellectual activity, rendering of services, services rendered, or performance of work — on condition of the distribution of advertising for the goods produced by the sponsor. In the athlete's case this means that a brand's financial or material support is directed toward the advertising use of the athlete's name, image and public presence. The law assigns the roles directly: the sponsorship contribution is regarded as the value of the advertising, the sponsor as the advertising customer, and the sponsored athlete as the distributor of the advertising. At the same time, the sponsor has no right to interfere in the activity of the advertisement's producer and distributor — the athlete determines the format of his or her own appearances and content. This combination of clear role allocation and creative autonomy defines the everyday grammar of endorsement deals.
Prohibited Sponsors and Gambling Advertising
Article 13 also restricts who may sponsor at all: a person whose goods or activity may not be advertised under the law has no right of sponsorship; and direct or indirect sponsorship — through other physical or legal persons — by manufacturers, importers and sellers of tobacco products, tobacco accessories and devices intended for tobacco consumption is prohibited. Particularly important for sport is Article 8-3: the distribution of advertising concerning gambling games, totalizators, lotto, bingo and their organizers is in general impermissible, save for exceptions — including the case where the advertising is distributed at the venue of a sports event or competition, or at the place of activity of a sports organization, and is designated as a condition in exchange for sponsorship of their activity. The other exceptions concern licensed websites, the gambling venue itself and airports; the area of a sign must not exceed 10 square metres, and the placement of more than one sign is impermissible. For an athlete this makes matters plain: bookmaker sponsorship is possible only within this narrow frame, and its free promotion in personal social channels is prohibited by law.