Nick keller Chair of Sports Industry Group this week spoke out about the European Referendum and why Sport needed to vote to 'Remain'

In a wide ranging article Nick spoke about the consequences of Leave and the benefits that being part of the European Union had brought to the sector.

Nick Keller Article:-

With only a few days until the most important vote of our lives it's time for a team talk amongst the UK sport industry. For me our game plan should be obvious but as before every big game it is worth restating. We should throw ourselves behind a Remain vote with every ounce of energy that we can muster.

Brexit not only risks everything that our industry delivers commercially, it will also deliver a body blow to the wider good that sport does to UK society at large.

Closer European ties and the conscious reducing of borders and divisions have been the backdrop to the increasing globalisation of sport. This has helped transform the way that we consume and engage with sport as fans and in business, something that millions of Britons feel so passionate about.

Look no further than the Premier League: great British product, a magnet for the best coaches and players on the planet, a global export, and envy of every other nation on earth. Could this ever have happened without the collaborative, open market conditions that have evolved? Free movement of talent, where the hire and transfer of athletes is faster and easier, is just one of the factors that allows us to build this great business. The Premier League estimates that its games are broadcast to 730 million homes in 185 countries, and in doing so makes it the most lucrative football league in the world. Its executive chairman Richard Scudamore believes staying in the EU is key for protecting and trading the intellectual property rights that help earn so much money, of which approximately £2.4bn goes in tax to the UK government each year, helping pay for schools and hospitals and investment in grassroots sport.

To the fun runner, marathons in Berlin and Paris are as accessible as London or the Great North Run. Football and rugby fans think nothing of hopping on a train or a plane to see their club or country in action. No visas. No tariffs. Cheap travel all helped by being in the EU.

The confluence of positive, inclusive and collective energy has allowed us to showcase the UK at its best through major sporting events such as London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Did being part of a larger organisation diminish our sense of national self-image and worth? No, it shone a spotlight on it and the UK sport industry responded with great effect producing world-class events, basking in the warm glow of admiration and envy of others. Are we just to forget the wonderful spirit of harmony and internationalism that these events engendered, and turn our backs on the world and turn in on ourselves?

While these conditions have allowed the UK sport industry to become an economic powerhouse, we remain one made up mostly of small and medium-sized businesses: businesses that thrive on certainty, freedom of movement and collaboration. Without this certainty and without the ability to trade freely across Europe these businesses, that are so crucial to our sector, are set to suffer and this will directly impact the livelihoods of the professionals that operate within it.

It is not only sport's economic contribution that a Remain vote safeguards. Sport helps to maintain the extraordinary level of soft power that we have as a nation. UK bodies currently chair the EU drive against doping and match-fixing, and we are taking the lead on EU legislation around player transfer, to promote transparency and prevent exploitation. Inspiring UK sport initiatives, such as the Homeless World Cup, have received nearly £1m of EU funding over the last two years.

While we think of it, let's also not forget that we sit on every single major influential body in the Western world within the UN, NATO, G7, G20, the Commonwealth and the EU. Our own philanthropic movement, Beyond Sport, has also become a global influencer. Why risk this by sending out a message that at the very least undermines cooperation and togetherness?

The simple action of Brexit, turning in on ourselves, has to be by definition separatist and backward looking at a time the countries of the world need to come together to work against common threats.

So what might isolation bring? Economic uncertainty, for sure. The internal market of 500m people has been fantastic for the sports industry. Ripping ourselves out is an act of economic vandalism and self-harm, especially as it will take years of uncertainty to make new trade arrangements with the world.

What can the most fervent members of the Leave campaign promise beyond empty rhetoric? Are we really going to build a new hospital every week with the £350m they claim will be saved every seven days? Come on.

An increasing sense of political and cultural separatism and division can only feed the darker, more sinister fringes of society. What should the "immigrant population" that has helped build the Premier League and are heroes to millions make of such talk?

Misguided, outdated, and unrealistic notions of Britishness, stoked by personal ambitions, are not the answer to recent economic hardship, most of it caused not by Europe but by a global financial crisis largely rooted in the US.

That's why as businesses, athletes, teams and leagues we cannot remain quiet. If self-interest alone was the only criteria then we must see that our industry depends on the stability, openness and collaborative mindset that membership brings. It offers us the best opportunity to grow our global footprint; to continue to host world-class events and leagues; and to promote and deliver the best of British products, services, expertise and culture.

But it isn't the only criteria. In unstable times sport demonstrates time and time again its ability to overcome barriers and deliver where conventional politics so often cannot. It has to be able to do it better in a collaborative, and joined-up, even if imperfect, forum.

This is the biggest game of our lives. Only this time it is so much more than a game. Sport and the sport industry will suffer if we leave. We win by remaining IN.

Read more at https://www.sportindustry.biz/news/opinion-why-thursday-crucial-sport-industry#rSU9ToWI1AbHtCrI.99