Legal Services Sports, Media & Entertainment

Specialist legal advice and support, given in a timely manner and from a team with real experience, can make a positive impact on the revenue that a business can generate from its sports, media or entertainment interests.

Our legal advice is provided by a team of lawyers situated in every major time zone. We can tell you when it might be advantageous to establish a British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Irish, Jersey or Luxembourg entity for the purpose of owning your interests and we can advise you how best to structure your licensing or distribution arrangements in different regions so as to maximise income from your assets. Our services include:

Sports Ventures

• acquisition and ownership holding structures
• funds for the purposes of investing in sports ventures including player funds
• joint ventures both with respect to investment in the sports industry and between sports entities, the media and technology companies

Intellectual Property

• intellectual property holding structures
• licensing of intellectual property including with respect to brands and brand merchandising, sponsorship deals, naming rights, merchandising, multimedia and gaming products

Structured Finance

• sports related financing for teams, clubs, leagues and associations by means of secured loan financing, credit facilities, bond issues, commercial paper and long term fixed rate debt facilities, including securitisation of future flow revenue (ticket sales, broadcasting rights and royalties) and stadium financing

Media

• media right holding structures
• broadcasting – domestic and international television, radio, internet broadcasting and mobile wireless agreements

Personality / Athlete Services

• ownership of image and associated intellectual property rights
• licensing of image and associated intellectual property rights including endorsements on a regional and global basis
• trust structures for private wealth management

Our specialist skills and knowledge are strongly supported by the collective expertise of our Corporate, Funds & Investment Management, Finance, Intellectual Property and Trusts & Private Client groups.