Lawyers for Sports and Transmedia Business Opportunities
Our lawyers provide sports industry clients advice about contracts, career and transactional ventures, particularly where their business needs intersect with corporate, intellectual property, entertainment, e-commerce and new media opportunities in Southern California, around the United States and anywhere in the world.
We offer contract, licensing and marketing counsel to professional athletes in established baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer leagues; athletes in such individual sports as tennis, golf, skiing or auto racing; and athletes in such emerging sports as mixed martial arts or extreme games. We also represent coaches, broadcasters, analysts, journalists and retired athletes or performers with an interest in realizing and protecting the value of their celebrity, public image or brand.
Our attorneys structure agreements that are tailor-made to maximize our sports industry clients' business interests in today's ever-expanding transmedia business environment. Examples of the kinds of transactions we can negotiate and document for our clients include:
- Player or coaching contracts with professional teams in established leagues
- Product or service endorsement and branding campaigns
- Sponsorship opportunities in golf, tennis, skiing, skating, auto racing or other sports
- Rights to name, likeness or voice
- Publishing opportunities ranging from blogs or other electronic publishing opportunities to autobiographies or "as-told-to" books
- Television, motion picture, Internet and new media productions
- Sports memorabilia, licensing and autograph marketing
- Contract rights for broadcasters, analysts, commentators and retired athletes in various capacities
Sports Marketing and Corporate Sponsorships
In support of the marketing and advertising campaigns of our sports industry clients we structure and negotiate complex sponsorship agreements for both corporate brands and the intellectual property content owners. Since our attorneys have represented both the corporate brands and the content owners in different transactions, we have a superior understanding of the deal points that are critical to both sides in order for an agreement to be finalized to mutual advantage.
From that unique perspective, our lawyers facilitate successful sponsorship and transmedia opportunity negotiations while creating an indispensable bridge between the business goals of both the corporate sponsors and the sports figures.
Personal Representation of Athletes & Sports Industry Figures
Our attorneys structure and negotiate salary negotiations for individual athletes and sports industry figures as well as endorsement contracts and similar business opportunities that may be available to them. Our representation provides a unique understanding of additional revenue generating transmedia business opportunities that are available to high profile athletes and sports industry figures. Amongst other examples, we structure and negotiate commercial tie-ins of the names, likenesses and voices of high-profile athletes and sports industry figures.
With the ever-expanding aspect of deferred compensation and contract buyouts, individual athlete deal structures and agreements are becoming increasingly more complex and sophisticated. Our attorneys advise and counsel our athlete and sports figure clients through and across every issue and every opportunity presented in their individual and business contracts and agreements.
International Sports Industry Transactions
We also provide advice and counsel in international sports industry transactions establishing a bridge for non-U.S. business interests to participate in U.S.-based sports franchises, as well as facilitating the access of U.S.-based sports industry franchises to international sports industry markets.
