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Sporting Events Bill Passes the Commons Ahead of Euro 2028

MPs passed the Sporting Events Bill on 4 November after rejecting three opposition changes. It returns to the Lords to consider Commons amendments.

ByPeter
Empty House of Commons chamber with green benches, illustration for the Sporting Events Bill
AI-generated illustration

The House of Commons passed the Sporting Events Bill [Lords] on 4 November, according to Hansard). The bill creates one standing legal framework that ministers can switch on for major sporting events held in the UK, starting with the UEFA European Championship in 2028. MPs rejected three opposition changes before giving it a third reading without a vote. Because the Commons amended the bill, it now returns to the House of Lords.

At a glance

  • Bill: a government bill introduced in the Lords, sponsored by Lisa Nandy in the Commons and Baroness Twycross in the Lords (bills.parliament.uk).
  • Commons votes: a Liberal Democrat ticket-resale clause fell 62-286; Conservative amendments on strikes (91-298) and single-sex competition (93-287) were also rejected.
  • Third reading: agreed without a division; the Conservatives said they would not oppose it.
  • Next: peers consider the Commons amendments before the bill can receive Royal Assent.
Green benches and the Speaker's chair in an empty House of Commons chamber, illustration
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What the bill does

Until now, the UK has passed a separate law for each big event, such as the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act 2020, the government’s impact assessment notes. Event owners such as UEFA require host countries to guarantee protections for tickets, branding and transport. The bill replaces one-off laws with a framework that is applied event by event through regulations (secondary legislation, which needs a lighter parliamentary process than a full bill). The Commons Library lists its main parts:

  • Ticket touting: a new criminal offence of selling, offering or advertising tickets without the organiser’s authorisation during a set period, with financial penalties.
  • Advertising and trading: time-limited restrictions on unauthorised advertising and street trading in zones around venues.
  • Unauthorised association: a ban on businesses falsely linking their goods or services to an event.
  • Transport: powers to support transport planning for an event.

A separate part of the bill gives a power to fund bodies delivering events held wholly or partly in England, according to the impact assessment. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport says the framework is “event-agnostic” and is designed to meet the binding guarantees that rights holders require, including for Euro 2028 and the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup if the UK bid succeeds.

Where it stands

  • 14 May 2026: first reading (formal introduction) in the Lords (Bills API).
  • 3 June to 21 July 2026: Lords second reading, committee, report and third reading.
  • 3 September 2026: Commons second reading, after first reading on 1 September.
  • 20 October 2026: Public Bill Committee, where MPs go through the bill line by line.
  • 4 November 2026: report stage and third reading. New clause 1 on ticket resale fell 62-286 (division 2473); amendment 6 on industrial action fell 91-298 (division 2474); amendment 8 on single-sex protections fell 93-287 (division 2475).

What supporters and critics say

Closing the debate, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the bill “allows us to stand ready to host the biggest events in the world.” She said the Euro 2028 tournament is projected to deliver a sixfold return on public investment. Answering the Conservative amendment on women’s sport, she told MPs that “participation in all events within the scope of the Bill is already based on biological sex.” On strikes, she said no member “could point to a single instance when a major sporting event has been derailed by strike action.”

For the Conservatives, shadow Culture Secretary Rebecca Paul said her party supports the bill’s purpose but called it “a missed opportunity.” She said she was “shocked” by the result on amendment 8, which would have added single-sex protections, and criticised the government for refusing to address “the threat of industrial action disrupting major sporting events.”

Liberal Democrat Anna Sabine, who moved new clause 1, said her party welcomes the bill. Her clause would have made it an offence to resell tickets for major sporting events above their original cost and capped resale platforms’ fees. Dame Caroline Dinenage, the Conservative chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, warned of “a two-tier ticketing system” because music and cultural events are not covered. Nandy said the government rejected the clause for that reason and is preparing wider ticket-touting legislation.

Analysis: The final votes show broad support for the framework itself. The disputes were over what to add to it.

What happens next

  • Lords consideration of Commons amendments: peers vote on the changes the Commons made. If they agree, the bill has passed both Houses; if not, it goes back and forth (“ping-pong”) until they agree.
  • Royal Assent: the King’s formal approval makes it an Act.
  • Regulations: each event, starting with Euro 2028, then needs its own regulations to apply the parts of the framework it requires.

Sources

  • Hansard, [Sporting Events Bill [Lords], House of Commons report stage and third reading](https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-11-04/debates/C9DA1993-3D62-476B-9AEE-B9D42058FCB5/SportingEventsBill(Lords)), 4 November 2026.
  • UK Parliament, Commons divisions 2473, 2474 and 2475, 4 November 2026.
  • House of Commons Library, [Sporting Events Bill [HL] 2026-27](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10933/).
  • Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Sporting Events Bill: supporting documents, 14 May 2026, and final stage impact assessment.

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