What Is a Sports Attorney?

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Behind the high-stakes games and roaring crowds of sporting events is an intricate web of deals and agreements made between multiple parties. From sports teams to marketing companies and everything in between, there will always be legal hurdles to overcome to ensure that everything flows as intended.

There are professionals who are dedicated to resolving such hurdles and preventing any legal issues that may arise. These professionals are called sports attorneys.

While they share a few parallels with lawyers in other fields, sports attorneys specialize in matters regarding the sports and athletics industries at large.

If you’re experiencing some sports-related legal trouble involving your brand, an option would be to look up sports attorney near me on your preferred search engine. However, before you go looking for professional help, it’s best to understand what they do and what services they can offer you first.

To help you with this, we’re going to answer one simple question: What is a sports attorney?

The Responsibilities of a Sports Attorney

As mentioned, sports attorneys handle sports-related legal matters. Sports law covers a broad range of issues affecting not just an athlete, but also everything else related to the people and legal entities surrounding the industry. This includes coaches, agents, talent scouts, broadcasters, sports league officials, and more.

Every behind-the-scenes facet of sports falls within the scope of a sports attorney’s responsibilities. This includes major claims and disputes involving the biggest names of the sports world, from the best basketball teams, top 10 players, endorsers, and organizations like the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL.

One good example of a sports attorney’s responsibilities is the handling of contract agreements. A sports contract can represent an agreement between multiple individuals or legal entities regarding one of many possible topics. This includes book or movie deals, sports memorabilia licensing, endorsement agreements, and more.

Their role also extends outside of sports. Sports attorneys will also handle external issues such as criminal cases involving their clients and lawsuits related to contract breaches. They also help manage the reputation of their clients by handling media appearances whenever controversy is involved.

A sports attorney serves as the representative of such individuals during the signing of agreements and in the court of law. This ensures that none of the parties involved are exploited and that the athletes and coaching staff can focus on their performance on and off the court or field.

Why Should You Get a Sports Attorney?

For professional athletes, a sports attorney is just as important as a coach or a personal trainer. Not only will one protect you from bad press and horrible deals, but they can also help you secure more opportunities. A sports attorney can negotiate staff salaries, push for bonuses, and land sponsorship deals.

The importance of a sports attorney’s responsibilities becomes more apparent once you take a look at the bigger picture. Sports entertainment is a gigantic industry that millions of people around the world patronize. Market analysts have predicted that the sports industry’s value can reach more than $600B by 2022, which is a tremendous leap from its $488.5B value in 2018.

As the value of sports entertainment continues to grow, so does the importance of a legal professional who can protect you from unfavorable deals. This will ensure that you don’t get left behind while the rest of the sports world enjoys constant growth and development.

Here are a couple of notable sports-related cases to further highlight the importance of a sports attorney:

The US Women’s National Team vs. US Soccer

In 2019, the US Women’s National Team sued US Soccer for alleged gender discrimination. The issue came to light shortly after the team won the Women’s World Cup. It was discovered that the women’s team was getting paid at a much lower rate compared to the men’s team despite having earned champion status for the fourth time.

Rugby Player Alex McKinnon vs. the NRL

Australian Newcastle Knights player Alex McKinnon sued the National Rugby League and Melbourne Storm player Jordan McLean for a bad tackle that left McKinnon permanently paralyzed. The multi-million-dollar lawsuit ended in McKinnon’s favor, earning him compensation from the league. McLean, in turn, was suspended for seven games for his reckless play.

Contact ChaseLawyers for Your Sports Law Needs

To ensure that you don’t become a victim to the many legal pitfalls in the sports industry, you need to find and hire the right experts.

ChaseLawyers is an entertainment law firm with years of experience in sports law. We also represent clients in the music, film, TV, modeling, intellectual property, and the visual and literary arts industries. If you’re looking for a sports lawyer in Miami, we’ll be more than happy to introduce you to one of our many expert attorneys.

Barry Chase

Barry Chase, Esq., Senior Partner at ChaseLawyers®, is a distinguished figure in the realm of sports and entertainment law, offering Harvard-level representation that is both cost-sensitive and exceptional. An honors graduate of Yale College (Phi Beta Kappa) and Harvard Law School, Chase's illustrious career commenced at a prominent Washington, D.C. law firm, now known as Wilmer Hale. Here, he honed his expertise in Communications and First Amendment law, representing media titans such as CBS, the Times-Mirror Company, and Time, Inc. in pivotal Federal Communications Commission (FCC) matters.

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