Insights on Naming Rights & Sponsorships

ArentFox Schiff served as outside counsel to the New York Red Bulls in a major naming rights and ticketing transaction with Sports Illustrated Tickets.

Arent Fox Sports Practice Leader Richard L. Brand, Corporate & Securities Leader Steven A. Cohen, and Sports and Corporate & Securities Partner William Z. Ordower have been named Power Players by Sports Business Journal in their rankings of the sports industry’s best outside counsel.

Arent Fox LLP served as outside counsel to Credit Karma, a consumer technology company, in a multi-year jersey patch sponsorship with the Houston Rockets that highlights its new Credit Karma Money platform.

The Los Angeles Lakers and AEG, the owners of STAPLES Center, have signed a long-term lease extension ensuring that the defending World Champions will remain in their downtown Los Angeles home arena through the 2041 season.

Arent Fox LLP served as outside counsel to Total Quality Logistics, the largest privately held freight brokerage firm in the nation, in a naming rights transaction for the home of Cincinnati’s MLS Team.

Arent Fox LLP served as outside counsel to Q2 Holdings, the Austin-based leading provider of digital transformation solutions for banking and lending, in a naming rights transaction for the new home of Austin’s MLS Team.

Arent Fox LLP served as outside counsel to Amazon in a naming rights transaction for the new home of Seattle’s NHL team and WNBA’s Seattle Storm.

Arent Fox’s Sports Practice Leader Rich Brand spoke with radio network WTMJ on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019 on the new naming rights for the Milwaukee Brewers’ Miller Park. The Brewers recently announced that American Family Insurance will take over the naming rights of Miller Park in 2021.

In this video episode of Fashion Counsel, Anthony Lupo and Richard Brand discuss the issues and opportunities in naming rights and sponsorships.

Arent Fox LLP recently served as outside counsel to Rakuten Inc. in a multi-year partnership with the Golden State Warriors and the National Basketball Association.

Arent Fox LLP recently served as outside counsel to Fort Worth-based Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co., advising the global workwear company on a naming rights agreement with Multipurpose Arena Fort Worth and the City of Fort Worth for what will be known as Dickies Arena. 

Arent Fox LLP recently served as outside counsel to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority’s Transbay Transit Center, advising the complex on a 25-year naming rights agreement with San Francisco-headquartered Salesforce.

Earlier this week, Sports leader Richard Brand and associate Christina Campbell published an article with American Lawyer Media analyzing the recent uptick in naming rights transactions that is expanding beyond sports arenas and stadiums. 

Arent Fox LLP recently served as outside counsel to the Seattle Seahawks and its affiliate company, First & Goal Inc., in a renewal of the stadium naming rights transaction with CenturyLink, Inc.

Arent Fox LLP recently served as outside counsel to Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment (BSE), advising the company on an arena naming rights agreement with New York Community Bank.

Naming rights are not just for major leagues – now universities, training facilities, minor leagues, and even non-sports properties are considering selling these rights.

Franchise valuations in today’s sports market continue to rise, and in the NFL, new stadiums – and new hometowns – are playing a major role, as covered by the San Francisco Business Times.

Arent Fox LLP served as outside counsel to the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Lakers, advising the franchise on a new long-term partnership with UCLA Health.

Arent Fox LLP served as counsel to the Brooklyn Nets on an extension of the team’s existing media rights agreement with Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) for the exhibition of the team’s games and ancillary programming.

Arent Fox Sports partner Richard L. Brand was quoted by The Baltimore Sun in an article about  television rights fees involving the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals.

Frederick E. Bouchat has once again alleged copyright infringement against the Baltimore Ravens and the National Football League (NFL) over the Ravens’ “Flying B Logo” from the mid-1990s.

Sports counsel Maidie Oliveau was quoted in a Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal article on tennis icon Donald Dell.

Arent Fox Sports Partner Jennifer O’Sullivan will be speaking on the panel, “Sponsorship Brand Protection: Developing a brand protection strategy, including how GDPR, betting regulation is impacting on sponsorship,” on May 22, 2019 at the LawInSport Football Law Conference.

Arent Fox San Francisco Managing Partner and Sports Practice Group Leader Rich Brand will be speaking on the “Sport Sponsorship & Evaluation” panel on Friday, February 22nd at the Sports Industry Networking and Career (SINC) Conference at The George Washington University in Washington, DC.