The EU Commission applies for the first time the General Block Exemption Regulation to sport infrastructures and holds that their public funding may constitute State aid (Kristall Bäder)

The First Application of the New GBER to Sport Infrastructure* Public funding of local sport infrastructure may constitute State aid. The granting of a concession contract for the construction and/or operation of the infrastructure may not exclude State aid for the concessionaire. Measures based on the new GBER have to satisfy both its general and specific provisions. The funding gap method can be used in the context of the GBER. Introduction In this article I review Commission Decision SA.33045 on alleged aid to Kristall Bäder, in Germany. [1] It is an interesting case for two reasons. It is the first application of the 2014 General Block Exemption Regulation [GBER] to sport infrastructure and it contains an analysis of concessions in the context of State aid rules. Normally, the