COLLEGIATE AND UNIVERSITY SPORTS ISSUES

Athletic programs often form the emotional and financial backbone of educational institutions large and small. But in the ever-changing landscape of college athletics, university administrators need innovative business solutions that protect their athletic legacies, enhance development opportunities, and stimulate future growth.

Thompson Coburn’s attorneys have longtime connections to the region’s higher education institutions. They offer the experience, creativity, and strategic thinking that colleges and universities need to meet their unique legal needs and expand their athletic and academic enterprises.

Stadium Finance

Thompson Coburn maintains a large public finance practices in the Midwest. The firm has more than 30 years of experience in financing projects related to the construction, expansion, and improvement of many of the region’s collegiate sports facilities. 

Our public finance attorneys can advise higher education institutions on the complex aspects of sports venue financing. They also can offer counsel on the complicated tax issues involved with private donations from alumni or boosters. Our attorneys can structure financing options that ensure donors and their families can make substantial contributions to a university project while preserving their estate planning priorities.

Public finance attorneys also have experience negotiating naming rights agreements for university sports facilities, and can sort out sponsorship benefits such as the use of luxury suites.

Conference Realignment

The continuing NCAA conference shakeups have caused turbulent changes for hundreds of colleges and universities. These critical conference realignments can affect all aspects of an athletic department and a university as a whole, including advertising, broadcast rights, and future revenue. Thompson Coburn’s sports attorneys have a keen understanding of the television demographics and market size of conferences across the country, and can advise general counsel and athletic directors on conference negotiations, contracts, and admission requests to new conferences.

Compliance Programs/Risk Assessment

The Penn State fiasco — and its spiraling legal and political fallout for that university — had many colleges and universities on high alert. But by adopting a robust internal compliance program, these institutions can root out and properly address problems before they create significant problems for a university’s campus community, its regulatory status and its alumni relations.

As universities, especially those with high-profile athletic programs, start to come under the same public and legal scrutiny that other businesses and industries have encountered for years, Thompson Coburn attorneys can step in and help higher education institutions create effective compliance programs.

These programs could include:

• Selection of an independent compliance officer
• Creation of internal protocols for the reporting of potential policy violations
• Internal investigations
• Repair of internal controls
• Plans for employee discipline
• Proactive disclosure to authorities

Copyright/trademark/counterfeit goods

Universities and colleges can protect and enhance the value of their brands with the counsel of our experienced intellectual property attorneys. We provide patent protection and enforcement in the U.S. and overseas markets for brand names, team names, trademarks, web domains and more. Our attorneys have helped global companies manage and enforce large trademark portfolios, and can also assist with any licensing negotiations.

Anti-Counterfeiting Efforts

More than ever, athletic programs are dealing with the increasing problem of counterfeit sports merchandise. Our IP attorneys have extensive experience on the front and back end of anti-counterfeiting efforts.

On the front end, our attorneys can draft and negotiate contracts with overseas manufacturers that ensure a client can, should infringement occur, enforce its rights in a foreign legal system. If counterfeit goods do trickle into the United States, we can create a custom program that enlists the assistance of U.S. Customs agents in rooting out and blocking the entry of the offending products. But good enforcement efforts can start much closer to the source: Our firm’s strong connections with Chinese law firms and investigators help us quickly pinpoint and respond to counterfeiting efforts at manufacturing hubs across China.

We can act just as swiftly when a company suspects a U.S.-based counterfeiting operation is distributing infringing goods, perhaps spurred into production by a major sporting event or finals game.

Vigilant trademark enforcement can be a smart — and revenue-increasing — investment for professional sports teams. Our intellectual property attorneys can develop successful strategies to respond to counterfeiters around the globe.