I am pleased to write the Foreword to Professor Ian Blackshaw’s book on the Legal, Fiscal and Practical Aspects of Sports Marketing Agreements, particularly as various sports marketing methods and principles, as he points out in this book, in many ways originated and developed in the United States. Sports marketing has now taken root in the rest of the world as well, and, despite the economic downturn and recession, it continues to flourish. In his book, Professor Blackshaw adopts an efficient and useful approach to this subject by combining theory with practice. As shown in the Table of Contents, a wide range of sports marketing agreements are covered, including: Sports Broadcasting Agreements, often the life blood of a major sporting event; and New Media Rights Agreements, which often provide sports marketers with an extra dimension for commercializing sports events particularly through online media such as ‘‘webcasting.’’ Of particular importance, the book covers the impact of the European Union (EU) on the commercialization of sports events, particularly the Competition Rules of the EU, which apply whenever sport constitutes an economic activity. As sport becomes a bigger and bigger business around the world it is difficult to conceive of any situation in which the necessary economic activity could be absent. As a result, the EU aspects of sports marketing are very important in practice and must be taken into account when negotiating and drafting sports marketing agreements with a European dimension. This book also tackles the important impact of tax law and rules on sports marketing. It specifically covers the fiscal aspects of Sports Image Rights Agreements and the need to shelter the considerable revenues that sports personalities, such as David Beckham, may earn from the commercial exploitation of their image in a wide range of consumer goods and services on an international scale.