The Sports Law Practice brings together the diverse practices, resources and experience of the entire firm to focus on sports-related issues.  Colleges and universities, businesses, and individuals involved in collegiate and professional sports have encountered a substantial increase in the number of specialized legal issues over the past decade.  In today’s world of sports, we are called upon by our clients to advise them on issues involving complex commercial transactions, intellectual property rights, privacy regulations, licensing, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) investigations and compliance, and contract negotiations and dispute resolution that arise continuously and demand rapid responses.

The lawyers in our Sports Law Practice are experienced in a variety of legal specialties and are able to help clients resolve their legal issues and achieve their goals.  Dennis Coleman, who heads the Sports Law Practice, is a leading national sports law attorney with over 20 years of experience devoted primarily to sports law matters.  Dennis has served as a director or outside general counsel for organizations within the industry, including the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

Practice Focus Areas

Representation of Coaches

In the past five years, we have represented over 40 professional and major conference collegiate coaches in the negotiation and preparation of their employment contracts and benefits arrangements.  We serve as advisers and counselors to our coaching clients as they encounter a full range of legal issues, including, most especially, those issues unique to collegiate and professional athletics.  We provide our clients with expert advice on estate planning, tax, and wealth management matters.  We are highly experienced in providing advice with respect to separation and transition issues that arise when one coaching relationship ends and a new one frequently begins.  We have also assisted colleges and universities in drafting agreements for their coaches.

NCAA Investigation and Compliance

Colleges and universities must adhere to complex and evolving legislation enacted by the NCAA.  We assist schools in the daily management of this task by answering questions about NCAA rules.  Moreover, when an infraction issue arises, we represent schools and individuals involved in the NCAA investigation process and during proceedings before the NCAA.  We have also assisted schools and individuals with initial eligibility and international player issues and guided clients through the NCAA Clearinghouse process.  Most importantly, we seek solutions for schools that recognize the importance of their academic missions.

Intellectual Property

We regularly work with clients in structuring and negotiating sponsorship and other licensing arrangements, including stadium naming rights agreements and complex joint ventures involving intellectual property rights.  We provide comprehensive trademark counseling, brand management, and protection services, from trademark clearance to worldwide registration to enforcement litigation.  We also have the ability to maintain brand portfolios for clients with specialized branding needs.

Transactional and Corporate Practice

The Sports Law Practice advises clients on a wide range of transactional and corporate matters, adding value accumulated from the firm’s broad experience representing the nation’s most successful businesses and universities.  Transactional matters include:

• Major marketing, licensing, and sponsorship agreements;
• Ownership and financing of teams and tournaments;
• The purchase and sale of major sporting events;
• Rights agreements between sports marketing firms and collegiate athletic conferences and universities;
• Restructuring pension and benefit plans for active and retired professional athletes;
• Organizational structuring and documentation;
• Agreements for international tournaments;
• Serving as outside general counsel for associations;
• Internet services agreements;
• Joint venture agreements;
• Organization of charitable foundations and other tax-exempt entities;
• Tax advice to exempt organizations regarding unrelated business taxable income (UBTI);
• Complex sports-related real estate development; and
• Advising on HIPAA compliance and implications related to student athletes’ personal identifiable information.

Litigation and Arbitration

When our sports clients need help in court or need to pursue a potential court action, our litigators are always ready to help assess the case, or, if need be, leap into action on their behalf.  Our litigators have practiced in federal and state courts throughout the country.  We defend and prosecute claims for clients in the full range of disputes that can arise for our clients.  While our first impulse is not to recommend that clients resort to litigation to resolve their disputes, when our clients decide to go to court, we know how to play to win.  We also assist in responding to contractual grievances and represent clients at hearings before labor arbitrators and the National Labor Relations Board.

How We Help Our Clients   

• We represent major colleges and universities in connection with NCAA eligibility issues.
• We represent student athletes under investigation in connection with alleged violations of NCAA regulations.
• We counsel a major manufacturer of athletic footwear and sports apparel on innovative and exclusive licensing transactions with the National Football League and the National Basketball Association.
• We are the general counsel for the NABC and have negotiated production agreements for exempt basketball tournaments sponsored by the NABC.
• We have represented an NCAA coach in connection with a landmark 10-year extension of his employment agreement with a major East Coast university.
• We represent a major university in connection with its drafting and implementing a drug-testing policy for student-athletes.
• We have negotiated exclusive licensing contracts and marketing agreements with major collegiate athletic conferences and universities.
• We obtained a successful result for the Boston Red Sox in a federal court proceeding that tried to stop the game day expansion of Fenway Park.

Our Clients

We represent a variety of organizations and individuals in areas covering many aspects of sports law.  We serve as outside general counsel to the National Association of Basketball Coaches, whose members include approximately 5,000 college, junior college, and high school basketball coaches.  In addition, we represent various large public companies and colleges and universities in a variety of sports-related matters.  Our clients include:

• National sports associations and foundations;
• Athletic footwear and licensed apparel manufacturers;
• A professional sports franchise;
• Coaches;
• Colleges and universities; and
• Sports marketing organizations.

Contact

For further information on this area of practice, please contact:

• Dennis M. Coleman
• Mark V. Nuccio

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