Sport
The passion and expectation of fans all over the world, high-value sponsorship deals and exciting commercial opportunities: we are immersed in every aspect of the world of sport and work closely with national governing bodies, major commercial clubs and organisations, high-profile sports men and women, and international federations. Our client base has its roots among many of the UK’s largest national governing bodies, spanning a multitude of sports including football, athletics, cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, rowing, swimming, and we are longstanding advisers to the British Olympic Association.
Our experience in the sport sector
We have a deep level of knowledge and expertise on the issues affecting our sports clients, giving us an informed perspective and the ability to take a proactive approach in our work, as well as allowing us to provide critical thought leadership on the key issues of the day.
Our work in the sport sector
National governing bodies must operate in a thoroughly commercial manner, dealing with commercial sponsors, agencies and broadcasters. Our commercial lawyers help NGBs with the full range of commercial requirements.
The level of scrutiny amongst the media and the general public on the issues of governance, integrity and safeguarding in sport has never been higher. We are the natural choice for national governing bodies and clubs because of our particular expertise across all of these areas. Our specialists are well versed at putting in place the measures organisations need to manage their risks as effectively as possible, whether around safeguarding, doping, match-fixing or corruption. We regularly advise bodies in receipt of public funding on compliance issues related to the Code for Sports Governance and led by Tom Bruce, who is a “go-to” adviser on sports governance matters, we won Sports Governance Firm of the Year – UK in 2018 and 2019.
We advise household name sports clubs and businesses, and national governing bodies across all their activities from employment law, property, sponsorship and commercial agreements. We work with sports clients on high profile litigation, contractual and regulatory disputes, reputation management, and disputes around selection and disciplinary proceedings. We regularly advise on large scale commercial contracts for sports rights holders, as well on branding, intellectual property and reputation management issues. We also advise both lenders and borrowers on the complex field of financing structures for sports organisations, where the security can be property or other collateral such as revenue streams.
We have close relationships with well-known agents, and act for numerous high-profile sports men and women. We are able to bring to bear our expertise as one of the leading private client law firms in the country and regularly advise athletes on personal tax and trusts issues, property matters, sensitive questions of reputation, harassment/blackmail, family law and philanthropy; as well as professional concerns around sponsorship, image rights and immigration issues.
