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Pryor Cashman has wide-ranging expertise and extensive experience in representing clients at every level of the sports industry. We have represented:

• Agents
• Coaches
• Management companies
• Memorabilia companies
• National sports associations (such as the United States Golf Association (USGA) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA)
• Players
• Professional sports leagues (such as the National Football League and Major League Lacrosse)
• Teams

Pryor Cashman advises and counsels sports clients in all areas. On the transactional side, we draft and negotiate contracts of all types, including those relating to employment, advertising, promotions, licensing, merchandising, endorsements and financing. We have also assisted our clients in the acquisitions of sports teams and with issues relating to antitrust and bankruptcy. 

In the critical area of intellectual property, Pryor Cashman, recognized for one of the nation's premier intellectual property groups, regularly advises clients on issues relating to copyrights, trademarks and service marks, unfair competition, rights of privacy and publicity, and the Internet, including domain name registrations. Our litigators represent our sports clients in all forums in protecting their intellectual property rights.

We also provide our sports clients with legal services relating to personal and private matters involving real estate, marriage, finances and trusts and estates. 

Examples of matters which we have handled include:

Intellectual Property

• Counsel to the USGA on intellectual property issues relating to copyrights, trademarks, the Internet, advertising, merchandising and licensing; we routinely take action on behalf of the USGA to enforce its intellectual property rights against potential and actual infringers
• Regularly advise and counsel a national professional lacrosse league on a wide range of intellectual property matters, including trademark clearance and protection, and aid it in enforcing the league’s rights in various team names and logos, commencing legal proceedings where necessary 

Litigation

• Represent the former promoter of international professional men’s soccer matches in an antitrust and civil RICO action brought against Major League Soccer and the purported national governing body for soccer in the U.S. 
• Defended a major league baseball player against a breach of contract claim asserted by a memorabilia company
• Defended a sports agent against claims that he failed to promote the career of his client, a professional tennis player

Contracts

• Represented a world-ranked professional tennis player in his negotiation of a book deal
• Negotiated contracts for several NHL coaches with their teams
• Assisted a Swiss professional hockey team in asserting its contractual rights against a player who prematurely terminated his contract

Bankruptcy

• Represented the USTA in the United Airlines bankruptcy with respect to executory contract rejection issues involving United’s sponsorship agreement for the association’s U.S. Open championship
• Advised a major sports management company and a national sports association on contract and claim-related issues arising out the bankruptcy of Pan-American Sports Networks (PSN)

Merchandising

• Represented an advertising agency in negotiating a joint venture with a world-renowned fighter who was former heavyweight champion of the world

Family Law Matters

• On behalf of a major sports management company, we regularly assist and counsel athletes in all sports on a wide variety of personal and family matters
• Represent professional athletes in the preparation of wills, trusts, matrimonial agreements and various financial documents

Motion Pictures and Television

• Represented the producer of a successful television documentary about soccer and negotiated various contracts, including one with a famous actor to act as narrator of the film
• Negotiated on behalf of motion picture producers with professional athletes for their participation in documentaries