Sports

O’Melveny played a key role in bringing professional sports to California, beginning with our representation of the Dodgers when the then Brooklyn-based baseball franchise sought to relocate to Los Angeles in the late 1950s. Thanks to the firm’s successful appeal to the California Supreme Court, the team was permitted to relocate and Dodger Stadium was built. Later, O’Melveny advised Jack Kent Cooke in his acquisition of the Los Angeles Lakers and the innovative structuring of the deal that brought Wilt Chamberlain from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. The firm also advised on Cooke's acquisition of the expansion rights for the Los Angeles Kings (bringing the NHL to California) and the development of the then state-of-the-art sports and entertainment facility, the Fabulous Forum, which served as home to both the Lakers and Kings.

The breadth of our Sports practice extends well beyond Los Angeles. Our clients take advantage of O’Melveny’s full service capabilities and 14 offices across the United States, Europe and Asia. Clients have recently called upon us and our attorneys to provide representation in connection with billions of dollars in domestic and worldwide broadcast and new media rights deals; the acquisition/sale of professional sports teams; federal and special grand jury investigations into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports; federal and state legal disputes surrounding the right to promote a boxing champion; complex cross-border ventures, investments and acquisitions; the financing and developing of various sports complexes; domestic and international lawsuits to protect high-profile intellectual property; and various sponsorship, endorsement and stadium naming rights deals.

In addition to O’Melveny’s deep historical roots in the business of Sports, we are also firmly entrenched as the pre-eminent major law firm in the Entertainment and Media space. For the past two years O’Melveny has been awarded both the prestigious Chambers USA Award for Excellence in Media as well as Chambers’ recognition as a top National Sports Practice. As the Sports and Entertainment industries continue to converge, O’Melveny is uniquely positioned to offer unparalleled legal representation to our clients.

Practice Strengths

• Broadcast and New Media Licensing. O’Melveny has been negotiating media rights transactions for major sporting events for decades. Recently, the Internet and mobile technology have begun to generate exciting new opportunities for the multi-platform distribution of sports properties. O’Melveny’s vast experience in content licensing, coupled with the ability to draw resources from the firm’s award-winning Entertainment and Media practice, puts O’Melveny in a unique position to advise Sports clients on the complexities and opportunities present in the ever-changing media rights arena. For example, we represent the International Olympic Committee in all of its media deals around the world; we advised NASCAR in connection with its national broadcast strategy that ultimately resulted in more than US$4.0 billion from Fox, TNT and ABC/ESPN; we provided representation on broadcast and/or new media licenses involving the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Mets, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Phoenix Suns; we represented Univision Communications in connection with its US$350 million acquisition of the exclusive U.S. and Puerto Rican Spanish-language broadcast and new media rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cup; and we negotiated a license of interactive rights to Yahoo! for all NBA and WNBA content in Korea.
• Acquisition and Disposition of Sports Franchises. O’Melveny understands the challenges of unique corporate and tax issues with respect to the purchase and sale of sports franchises. Team owners count on our expertise for high-profile, multi-million dollar transactions. We and/or our attorneys have represented teams, team owners and investors in connection with the sale and/or purchase of the Seattle Sounders, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Lakers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Sparks, and the then Anaheim Angels, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, and Vancouver Grizzlies.
• Litigation; Disputes. In high stakes litigation, every move counts. From the initial positioning of the facts and issues, to trial of the case, to disposition of the appeal, smart moves make the difference between a favorable resolution and a costly judgment. For business leaders around the world, the stakes are higher than ever in today’s competitive, media-saturated climate. Whether facing a national or international commercial dispute, charges from a governmental agency, or a single-plaintiff suit with broad implications, prominent Sports clients entrust their largest and most sensitive matters to O’Melveny. The following is a sample of our representations in this area: the San Francisco Giants in connection with federal grand jury investigations regarding the use of performance-enhancing drugs by professional athletes, and in connection with the special investigation by former Senator George Mitchell for Major League Baseball regarding the same subject; the New York Mets in various disputes, including labor law matters; fight promotions company Top Rank, Inc. in a variety of disputes, including federal and state lawsuits against rival promoter Golden Boy Promotions over the right to promote boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, and a separate lawsuit and appeal relating to boxer Victor Ortiz's attempt to void his promotional agreement by filing bankruptcy; professional athletes in various disputes, including boxing champion Manny Pacquiao in a federal defamation lawsuit against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Oscar de la Hoya; NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas in connection with the investigation and criminal charges related to his possession of unloaded firearms at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., for which he received no jail time; boxing champion Antonio Margarito in numerous matters before various courts and boxing commissions; a World Series champion baseball player in various business disputes; the San Diego Chargers in connection with employment matters pertaining to players and other strategic labor issues; then-team owner of the Vancouver Grizzlies in connection with disputes involving its sale of the team; two Arena Football League teams in contract disputes; sports investment consulting firm, Park Lane Investment Banking Services, in various contract disputes; and Ace Insurance Company in its dispute with a Major League Baseball club over potential coverage under the team’s insurance policy on a prominent player.
• Stadium and Arena Financing, Development and Use. O’Melveny has extensive experience in all stages of stadium and arena financing. We offer clients creative ways of structuring their deals, including combinations of public and private debt financing and more cutting-edge approaches, such as securitizations and tax-advantaged financing. Our team has provided legal advice in financing some of the United States' state-of-the-art sports complexes, including Petco Park in San Diego (including issues under the Internal Revenue Code in order to preserve and maximize the cost savings advantages of the tax-exempt bonds), the Home Depot Center and ESPN’s new, state-of-the-art sports broadcast studio in Los Angeles, AT&T Park in San Francisco, and The Rose Garden Arena in Portland.
• Sponsorship, Endorsements and Other Opportunities. Sponsors are looking for powerful ways to reach target audiences in order to maintain brand product visibility and name recognition. Event organizers and venues seek creative methods for boosting revenue. O’Melveny has represented corporate sponsors, organizations and facility owners in the creation of value through sponsorships and endorsements, including representing the International Olympic Committee in connection with the provision and protection of entitlements to sponsors participating in its highest-tier global sponsorship program, The Olympic Partner (TOP) program; Qwest Communications in connection with naming rights and sponsoring arrangements with the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Seattle Seahawks; Hakuhodo Inc. (the world’s second-largest advertising company) in negotiating celebrity endorsement agreements for international campaigns featuring movie stars, supermodels and sports icons; NASCAR in connection with negotiations for contemplated television shows and theatrical films based on car racing; a private equity firm in its acquisition of ANC Sports, the leading provider of integrated signage, design, and marketing solutions for sports and commercial facilities, with LED signage in more than 200 North American sports venues; and the owners of the Tokyo Dome in the negotiation of on-site licenses and merchandising arrangements with the NBA, NFL and producers of various concerts and other events.
• Sports Properties Branding and Protection. O’Melveny lawyers stand out in domestic and international Sports branding matters. High-profile Sports clients have relied on our intellectual property attorneys to counsel them on a variety of matters involving trademarks, copyrights, rights of publicity and privacy, and trade secrets. In addition to the management and protection of valuable intellectual property rights, our attorneys help clients enforce these rights through litigation when necessary. Cases handled by O’Melveny intellectual property litigators on behalf of Sports leagues and their member clubs are recognized as being among the farthest reaching not only in Sports, but in trademark and copyright law in general, and include representing Visa International in a dispute over its US$200 million financial services sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup; ESPN in various intellectual property disputes; and NFL Properties, its NFL Member Clubs including the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Washington Redskins, and over 450 NFL licensees, sponsors and other business partners in multiple intellectual property disputes. Additionally, our attorneys have advised in-house counsel for National Hockey League Enterprises on a variety of trademark and copyright issues.
• International Matters. Today, business operates in a globally competitive environment, and the O’Melveny offices across the US, Europe and Asia offer an unmatched edge to tackling the intricacies of venue. Companies see the world as an integrated marketplace, while national borders still matter. Cross-border transactions invoke the familiar rules of local commerce, and an increasingly complex web of laws, regulations, and policies established by both national authorities and international agreements. Economic sanctions and anti-corruption rules reach extraterritorially, sometimes posing conflicts with other nations’ policies. O’Melveny’s experience in this complex maze of regulations of Cross-Border Trade and Investment work helps Sports clients develop international opportunities while managing these regulatory risks. The following is a sample of our representations in this area: Yahoo! in its investment in Korean online entertainment MediaCorp Incorporated (under which Yahoo! obtained the exclusive rights to online, mobile, and IPTV distribution of U.S. Major League Baseball content in Korea), and in the negotiation of its license of interactive rights to all NBA and WNBA content in Korea; China Dongxiang Sports Development Holdings (a major sportswear manufacturer) in its US$38 million private equity investment by Morgan Stanley; Deutsche Bank in a senior secured credit facility and a subordinated bond facility for JAFCO Sports Holding Company, the proceeds of which were used to finance JAFCO’s leveraged acquisition of the assets of sporting goods store Victoria Co., Ltd.; Shinsei Bank in its senior secured loan to Football 360 K.K., a promoter of soccer matches between European and Japanese soccer teams; GSR Ventures in its investment in a Beijing-based sports and entertainment company; and Nisho-Iwai as the principal investor in the leveraged buyout of Europe-based Head Sports Group.