Sports

Home / Industries / Sports
All industries
Entertainment · Sports

Sports organizations, teams, athletes, and brands get counsel on IP and name-and-likeness protection, sponsorship and licensing deals, media and broadcast rights, and the commercial agreements that run the business of sports.

The business of sports runs on rights: who can use a logo, broadcast a game, sign an athlete, or put their name on a stadium. We work across that ecosystem, with leagues, teams, athletes, sponsors, and the technology companies serving them, on the brand protection, media rights, sponsorship deals, and licensing programs that turn competition into revenue.

Brand And Likeness Rights

A team mark or an athlete's name and likeness can be the most valuable asset in the building, and it draws counterfeiters and free riders. We protect team and league trademarks, manage name, image, and likeness rights for athletes, including the shifting NIL landscape in collegiate sports, shut down counterfeit merchandise, resolve domain disputes, and enforce your rights against unauthorized use across channels.

Media And Broadcast Rights

Media deals are where sports economics are actually decided, and the formats keep multiplying. We negotiate broadcast and streaming agreements, structure digital and direct-to-consumer media rights, and handle clip, highlight, and content licensing. We also advise on the newer questions, social media distribution, in-game data feeds, and emerging viewing platforms, so your rights packages capture value instead of leaking it.

Sponsorship And Licensing Deals

Sponsorships and licensing turn fan attention into income, but the terms decide whether they pay off. We draft sponsorship and endorsement agreements, structure merchandise and product licensing programs, negotiate naming rights, and address ambush marketing that piggybacks on your events. We focus on the activation, exclusivity, and renewal terms that determine what a deal is really worth over its full life.

Frequently asked questions

Name, image, and likeness rights mostly come from state right-of-publicity laws, which let a person control commercial use of their identity, and from trademark law when a name or logo functions as a brand. To enforce, you generally need to show the use was commercial and unauthorized, then pursue takedowns, cease-and-desist demands, or suit. Registering team and athlete marks strengthens your position and makes it easier to stop counterfeit merchandise and fake endorsements.

Define exactly what's being licensed and where, including the marks, the territory, the term, and the categories of products covered, plus exclusivity if the sponsor is paying for it. Address approval rights over how your marks appear, morals clauses that let either side exit on reputational damage, payment and renewal terms, and what happens to inventory and signage when the deal ends. Clear scope prevents the common fight where a sponsor uses your brand beyond what you agreed to.

That's set by your media rights agreements and, for leagues, by how rights are pooled and distributed among teams. These contracts carve up live broadcast, streaming, in-market versus out-of-market, clips, and archival footage, and they should clearly state which rights you keep and which you grant. Highlights and short clips on social platforms raise their own questions, so spell out who may post what, because uncontrolled clip-sharing can undercut the value of an exclusive rights deal.

You can register team names, logos, and distinctive slogans that identify your brand, and many organizations do exactly that across merchandise and entertainment classes. Pure functional acts or common phrases are harder to protect, and a slogan must actually be used as a source identifier rather than an ordinary expression. File early, clear the mark against existing registrations, and use it consistently, since rights grow stronger with documented commercial use.

Our team

Attorneys for this industry

Document products

Related document products

Order attorney-drafted documents related to this industry.

Browse all products

Protecting innovation in sports.

Get in touch