Entertainment & Sports

Overview

Greenspoon Marder’s Entertainment & Sports practice group provides dynamic and innovative legal counsel to clients across the entertainment, sports, media, and technology industries nationwide. From negotiating multi-million-dollar licensing, branding, and media deals to assisting companies with corporate structuring, financing, and intellectual property management, our team offers unparalleled expertise.

Entertainment

The entertainment industry thrives on creativity, innovation, and strategic partnerships. Greenspoon Marder’s Entertainment team is deeply entrenched in this growing field, providing comprehensive legal support tailored to the unique needs of creatives, entrepreneurs, and businesses. Our attorneys have a proven track record of guiding clients through talent negotiations, securing record contracts, managing publishing rights, and structuring corporate entities to maximize opportunities and minimize risks. 

Whether assisting with the production and financing of television and film projects or navigating cutting-edge technology transactions like SaaS, app development, and content licensing, we help our clients remain agile and competitive in a rapidly evolving landscape. Additionally, we provide strategic guidance in intellectual property management, ensuring that clients’ creative assets are protected, leveraged, and monetized effectively. 

Our work spans across:

• Representing internationally acclaimed as well as emerging artists, recording companies, managers and publishers in music branding, licensing, and rights management.
• Counsel and protect the rights of authors, book publishers, social media influencers and visual artists.
• Serving as production counsel for both scripted and unscripted film and television projects, advising on financing, distribution, tax matters, talent negotiations, rights and clearances and intellectual property.
• Safeguarding our clients’ intellectual property rights, including copyrights and trademarks, and ensuring their creative works are protected from infringement through comprehensive strategies to defend and enforce their rights effectively.
• Advising on new media transactions and digital marketing initiatives across emerging platforms.
• Structuring and executing mergers, acquisitions, and financing strategies for entertainment-focused enterprises.

Sports

We understand that professional and collegiate sports are not just games; they are big business. Athletes are serial entrepreneurs, and successful ones rely on experienced, business-savvy legal advisors to support them at every stage. The professional leagues, unions, universities, and other sports brand owners, as well as sponsors and licensees, often seek guidance and counsel in protecting and licensing their valuable intellectual property. 

Our team provides counsel on: 

• Providing brand protection and enforcement strategies to safeguard valuable intellectual property. 
• Driving contract drafting, review, negotiations and enforcement to ensure favorable terms for clients. 
• Advising on marketing and endorsement deals, ensuring athletes and brands maximize visibility and revenue. 
• Structuring licensing and merchandising agreements to expand brand reach and profitability. 
• Addressing real estate financing and construction issues for stadiums and mixed-use developments tied to sports properties. 
• Offering private client services, including real estate purchases and sales, asset and trust planning, marital and family law matters, immigration law, crisis management, media training and criminal defense. 
• Guiding clients through Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) compliance and monetization, ensuring regulatory adherence while optimizing opportunities. 
• Developing strategies for post-retirement business opportunities and planning, supporting long-term financial security and growth. 

For athletes transitioning out of college into professional sports, through the height of an athlete’s career, and into post-retirement opportunities, we offer tailored strategies to meet the unique needs of each client. 

With extensive experience working with athletes, universities, collectives, sponsors, licensees, and marketing agencies in the realm of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), we are at the forefront of the rapidly evolving intersection of sports and business. Our extensive experience with NIL extends to negotiating agreements that help athletes, brand owners, sponsors, and licensees monetize their brands while ensuring compliance with ever-changing applicable regulations. 

Our commitment extends beyond traditional legal services. Greenspoon Marder maintains a Sports & NIL blog, offering industry updates and insights into the latest legal and regulatory developments. Our attorneys are frequently called upon to speak on pressing issues in the entertainment and sports arenas, underscoring our leadership and influence in these fields.

Recognized Leaders in Entertainment & Sports

Our attorneys’ dedication to client success has earned the practice national recognition. Several attorneys in the group have been named among Billboard’s “Top Music Lawyers,” and Greenspoon Marder’s sports practice is listed in Hackney Publications’ “Top 100 Law Firms with Sports Law Practices.” These accolades reflect the depth of our experience, industry leadership, and commitment to achieving exceptional results for our clients.