We advise on a wide range of issues in the sports sector, and members of our team have in-depth knowledge of the legal landscape in a number of sports, including motorsport, golf, cricket, football, rugby and horseracing. We also advise a range of clients in the sports leisure and mass participation sectors.
We also have considerable experience in the sports retail sector and can demonstrate a strong understanding of this market through a combination of time spent on secondment by team members to various well-known sports brands, and the work undertaken by our cross-departmental Retail sector.
We are able to leverage our expertise as a full service law firm to provide our sports clients with independent, market leading legal advice across our practice areas. For example, our IP team, is widely considered to be one of the leading national IP practices outside of London and advise our sports clients both on the commercialisation of IP and in connection with various contentious matters, whilst our commercial team regularly advise rights holders, athletes, brands and agencies, often with a high-profile element to the work.
Perhaps unusually, in addition to our strong commercial, corporate and IP experience, we also have experience of advising sports clients in connection with regulatory, dispute resolution, employment and immigration, real estate and tax matters, and are well placed to assist our clients with complex multi-disciplinary issues.
Our work in the sports sector includes advising on:
- Sponsorship deals
- Player representation contracts
- Licensing, including acting for rights holders and licensees
- Media and broadcasting arrangements
- Sports-related supply contracts
- The overlap between sport and data, including data protection
- Brand enforcement and reputational management
- Trade mark and other intellectual property disputes
- Licensing and protection of image rights, including associated tax structuring
- Sports regulatory issues
- Employment and immigration issues in a sporting context, including advising sports clubs/teams and athletes on employment contracts and work permits
- Buying and selling sports clubs and teams and sports-related businesses
- Sports-related corporate finance matters, including crowd funding
- Private wealth arrangements for athletes
- Planning issues relating to stadium development and related commercial development
