Sports and Entertainment Specialty Counseling Practice
Overview
The Sports and Entertainment Group draws on the diverse practices and knowledge of our members and colleagues to offer our clients the depth of experience needed to effectively and efficiently represent our clients in the wide range of matters that fall within the sports and entertainment realm. Because members of the Sports and Entertainment Group also focus on other areas of the law and regularly draw upon BCLP lawyers in other practice groups throughout the Firm, we offer our clients a wealth of perspectives, including in the following areas:
- Corporate/Transactions
- Litigation/Dispute Resolution
- Real Estate/Infrastructure
- Financial Institutions/Lending/Receivable Financing
- Equity Capital Markets
- Tax
- Tax Exempt Organizations & Charitable Foundations
- Private Client (Estate Planning)
- Antitrust/Competition
- Intellectual Property
- Regulatory
- Labor & Employment
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
- Technology, Entrepreneurial & Commercial Practice
- Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Creditors’ Rights
In addition to the types of matters handled by our teams of lawyers committed to assisting clients in connection with their naming rights and sponsorship; sports and event venue real estate, infrastructure, operation and financing; sports and entertainment M&A; sports and entertainment litigation; sports and entertainment contract, endorsement and celebrity representation; anti-doping, Olympic and National Governing Body; collegiate sport; and entertainment industry matters, our Sports and Entertainment Group includes a team of lawyers who advise our sports and entertainment clients with counseling in connection with a variety of specialty legal areas, including the following:
- Planning and Construction
- Infrastructure Projects
- Real Estate Counseling
- Finance/Corporate finance
- Regulatory/Compliance
- Labor and employment and human resources counseling
- Antitrust and competition counseling
- Insurance counseling
- Tax counseling
- Estate planning and administration counseling
- Charitable foundation counseling
- Merchandising and licensing counseling
- Trademark, patent, website and other intellectual property counseling
- Legislative counseling
- Leisure industry, including with respect to a variety of licensing, health and safety, food safety, advertising and enforcement matters
- Sweepstakes, contest and raffle counseling
- Betting and gaming
- Fan experience
Meet The Team
EMEA Regional Leader – Litigations & Investigations and Co-Global Practice Group Leader – Business and Commercial Disputes, London
Experience
Select representations we have handled in these areas include the following:
- Among other regulatory activities, advised the leading sports agent in the United Kingdom (which houses the largest football (soccer) agency) on the implications of the new FIFA rules in relation to third party ownership and the regulation of agents (FIFA’s Regulations on Working With Intermediaries), and providing strategic advice regarding ongoing compliance with the new regime, and participated in pan-European discussions with interested parties
- Represent Karsten Manufacturing and its subsidiary , PING, Inc., in all aspects of intellectual property, including patent, trademark and copyright litigation, counseling, transactional work and prosecution
- Advised MP & Silva, a major international media rights company, with strategic advice in relation to its distribution of content and its IT infrastructure and content platform arrangements, for the purposes of streaming live sporting events to some of its biggest clients across Europe
- Represent the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in connection with various regulatory issues
- Provided employee benefits advice with respect to the pension plan sponsored by Michael Vick’s MV7, LLC
- Represent Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers in connection with trademark issues
- Represent Orlando Pace and Roland Williams, formerly of the St. Louis Rams, in connection with various business and transactional matters
- Provided intellectual property counseling in connection with various naming rights transactions
- Representing multiple professional sports teams in connection with various music licensing disputes involving alleged copyright infringement
- Provided real estate, tax and other specialty advice in connection with various event venue development, financing, leasing and operation projects
- Provided intellectual property, regulatory and other specialty advice in connection with various M&A transactions and litigation matters
- Represent several current and former professional team owners and athletes, including current or former MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL and IndyCar professionals, and various individuals involved in the entertainment industry in connection with various business, transactional, tax, estate planning and charitable foundation matters
- Represent charitable foundations with respect to various nonprofit, tax, corporate and intellectual property issues, including representations of Kurt Warner’s First Things First Foundation, the St. Louis Blues Fourteen Fund, the Jackie Joyner Kersee Foundation and Justin Gage’s Twelve Starz Foundation
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October 22, 2021