Professional and collegiate sports teams have a cadre of professionals throughout their organizations working hard to support the athletes, manage budgets, oversee extensive operations, market and promote the teams, adhere to strict and evolving rules and regulations, stay innovative, and address a range of legal and personnel issues. From owners, coaches, athletes, trainers and scouts to professionals in finance, sales, facilities, marketing, and human resources, they collectively support the organization’s goal of operating profitably and efficiently while striving to win games.
Advising on a wide variety of legal matters, Saul Ewing attorneys represent clients across the sports spectrum, including professional sports teams in leagues such as the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL as well as university sports teams and collegiate athletic organizations. We also advise developers and operators of sports facilities and surrounding entertainment centers. We are well-versed in the nuances of matters from the front office down to the field, court or ice and beyond, including in these areas:
Corporate
- General corporate – commercial agreements, governance, partnership matters, new ventures in areas such as esports, and various front-office matters
- Financing – debt and equity capital-raising transactions; and sports stadium financing through public private partnerships (P3), EB-5 offerings and tax-exempt bonds
- Mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and strategic alliances
- Investments – fund formation and investment opportunities on behalf of sports teams, private equity funds, venture capital funds, wealth funds, strategic investors and family offices
- Sports sponsorships – event contracts, broadcast agreements and naming rights
- Sports broadcasting agreements between on-air professionals and media outlets
- Tax – domestic and international tax planning and Internal Revenue Service inquiries and disputes
Real Estate, including the purchase and sale of land, financing, development, land use rights, zoning, leasing, and appeals
Construction, including the development of arenas and stadiums and surrounding entertainment centers
Intellectual property, including matters related to trademarks, patents, licensing and merchandising
Professional sports rules and regulations, including evaluating league rules and regulations and advising on how they impact various professional sports activities
Collegiate compliance rules, including evaluating compliance rules of the NCAA and conferences, such as Big 12 and Division III, and advising on how they impact various collegiate athletic activities
Litigation, including player trade disputes, class actions and breach-of-contract disputes, and NCAA inquiries and disputes
Labor and employment, including employment agreements, employee handbook/policy requirements, athlete handbooks, collective bargaining agreements, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) matters
Securities, including representing participants in the industry with federal securities law issues
Employee benefits and executive compensation
Cybersecurity and data privacy
Immigration, including employment-based visas
Estate planning, including business succession planning
A Sample Roster of Our Clients
Saul Ewing attorneys advised on these select sports-related representations:
Professional Sports
- An NHL team in the purchase of a Tier 1 junior ice hockey team and in the acquisition of land to expand its current practice facility.
- A professional sports franchise in renegotiating its stadium naming rights agreement with a longstanding business partner and resolving complex proposed changes to intellectual property ownership.
- A professional football team and its stadium in securing a highly favorable settlement in a contentious wrongful death action stemming from a stadium accident. We resolved the matter for approximately 2.5% of the plaintiff’s $30 million demand.
- An international motorsports racing team and professional driver in challenging a one-year suspension imposed by a U.S. racing series following unsubstantiated allegations that our client threatened a competitor. We secured the driver’s immediate reinstatement with full privileges, removal of negative online posts, a public apology and confidential mutual releases.
- An MLB franchise in a public records case defending its right to maintain as private its confidential financial information.
- An NFL team in connection with various corporate, governance and employment matters.
- An NHL team in inbound and outbound licensing, marketing, and information technology matters covering all aspects of team and stadium operations. Recent engagements include negotiation of ticketing services agreements and licensing of digital scoreboard content.
- An NFL team in connection with a data security incident involving a vendor.
- A renowned youth soccer academy affiliated with an MLS franchise in providing advice on a wide variety of matters.
- An NFL team in advising on cybersecurity and privacy concerns.
- An NBA team with advice regarding change of general partner.
Sports Broadcasting
- A play-by-play announcer in connection with multiple contract negotiations with Comcast/NBC Sports for his role as a Philadelphia Sixers play-by-play announcer.
- On-air talent for the Philadelphia Phillies in connection with his contract negotiation with Comcast and the Phillies.
- A main anchor on Philadelphia Comcast SportsNet (now NBC Sports Philadelphia) in connection with multiple contract negotiations with Comcast.
- An on-air commentator and analyst for the Golf Channel in connection with his contract negotiation with NBC Sports and the Golf Channel.
Collegiate Sports
- An NCAA Division 1 conference in advising on multiple agreements involving vendors, purchases, consultants and league staff.
- A Division III athletic conference on policies and regulatory compliance.
- A private school in providing contract review for a four-year, exclusive marketing agreement with a sports management group.
- A Big 12 Conference university with general NIL matters.
- A Pennsylvania college in assisting with an investigation and response to potential NCAA violations.
- A university in securing trademarks for its sports teams’ mascot and enforcing the trademarks.
- Senior executives at various collegiate athletic conferences in negotiating and documenting their employment agreements.
- A university in obtaining a temporary restraining order against vendors who do not have a license to sell merchandise with the team logo and seize goods.
- A university in negotiating sports ticketing agreements with Ticketmaster, StubHub and Paciolan.
Developers & Other Entities
- A sports and live entertainment company and MLB team with the master redevelopment of a sports complex.
- International Speedway Corporation (ISC) in its merger with NASCAR Holdings, Inc. and Nova Merger Sub, Inc., with ISC becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of NASCAR. International Speedway owns and operates 13 racetracks and motorsports facilities, including Daytona International Speedway in Florida, home of the Daytona 500 race, and Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.
- A publicly-traded entertainment and gaming company in a $2.5 million breach of contract and fraud action.
- A sports collective in negotiation of a Name, Image and Likeness agreement supporting an SEC university’s athletics.
- A leading golf brand in multiple leasing agreements.
- A heritage agency in negotiating and documenting an AI research agreement and license/joint venture agreement for prominent ACC school.
