
Sports
Our sports practice has been servicing the legal needs of individuals and businesses involved in the sports sector for over 20 years.
We have advised on some of the biggest deals and disputes, involving many of the key operators and stakeholders in the sector relating to some of the world’s leading sports events, personalities and properties. We have worked on high profile matters involving every major American sports league, as well as the Premier League, the Olympic Games, WWE, FIFA World Cup, Formula 1, and various eSports properties.
We have a market-leading international team of sport and entertainment lawyers throughout the United States, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. We offer the benefits of a global business law firm, with a network of experience extending throughout the United States and across the world. Leveraging our global platform, our sports law practice is equipped to provide assistance to clients swiftly and on an informed basis from our offices around the world, utilizing not only our legal skills and local market knowledge, but also our extensive networks and lobbying capabilities.
Our team has deep collective experience representing clients in the sports industry, particularly around:
- Media rights (ownership, protection, exploitation, strategic joint ventures, and traditional and over-the-top methods of distribution)
- Stadium related real estate finance and tax incentives in connection therewith
- League expansion
- Acquisition and disposition matters
- Strategic value-add partnerships between various stakeholders in the sports sector
- General corporate and financing matters
- Government relations
- Sponsorship, naming rights and endorsement deals
- Event bidding, staging, hosting, participation arrangements, and venue and stadium hire agreements
- Intellectual property protection
- Ticketing and hospitality
- Merchandising
- Concessionaire agreements
- Antitrust law
- Domestic and international regulation
- Sports integrity (anti-doping, corruption, and investigations)
- Sports-related litigation
Thought Leadership
Starting on 1 January 2024, entities will need to comply with the reporting rules under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).
Current federal funding expires this Saturday. As we approach the deadline, it is looking less likely that Congress will pass a continuing resolution, a short-term stopgap measure, to avoid a government shutdown.
Effective 27 June 2023, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) is a new law that closes a gap in coverage under federal law for pregnant and postpartum workers and applicants.
Although still in their infancy, a growing number of recently-filed lawsuits associated with generative artificial intelligence (AI) training practices, products, and services have provided a meaningful first look into how US courts may address the privacy, consumer safety, and intellectual property protection concerns that have been raised by this new, and inherently evolving, technology.