|
Colleges & Universities | Finance | Health Care | Hedge Funds
Intellectual
Property Rights Management |
Intellectual Property Transactions
International | Investment
Management | Life
Sciences | Private
Equity | Private
Investment Funds
Real
Estate | Securities & Public
Companies | Sports Law |
High Technology | Venture Capital & Technology Companies
|
|
How
big is our practice group?
25 lawyers (5 partners, 20 associates). |
 |
|
Daniel Adams, (University of North Carolina School of Law '04) as a seventh-year associate, assisted partner Dennis Coleman in representing Coach Ed Cooley in his contract negotiations with the Providence College. Please click here to read about this associate's role on the deal. We handle contract negotiations and other legal matters for over 30 top college basketball coaches throughout the country, including Fran Dunphy at Temple University, Johnny Dawkins at Stanford University, and Phil Martelli at St. Joseph’s University.
In addition, Dan assisted partner Mark Nuccio in negotiating the acquisition of a minority interest in a Major League Baseball team. With regard to the matter of negotiating the acquisition of a minority interest in a Major League Baseball team: “I was given immediate responsibility to negotiate with the seller’s representatives, the team’s counsel, and Major League Baseball. The approval process from Major League Baseball posed a unique hurdle that I do not often see in other acquisitions that I negotiate. Points that were negotiated ranged from the scope of the representations and warranties to where our client would sit in the owner’s box. As a die-hard baseball fan, this was a dream assignment.” |
 |
|
Ryan Schaffer (University of Virginia School of Law '06) as a fifth-year associate, has worked closely with partner Dennis Coleman on various contract negotiations for professional and collegiate coaches. Ryan assisted Dennis in representing Jim Caldwell and Tony Dungy in contract negotiations with the Indianapolis Colts. Please click here to read about Ryan's role on the deals. |
 |
|
Lindsey Goldstein (Boston College Law School '08) ) is a third-year associate in the Sports Law Group. Lindsey has worked with Dennis Coleman on broadcasting and endorsement agreements for Tony Dungy, Dick Enberg, Pete Gillen, Dave Odom and others. Please click here to read about Lindsey's role on the deals. |
 |
|
David Mindell (Columbia Law School ’08) is a third-year associate in the Sports Law Group. David has worked with Chris Conniff on representing coaches in NCAA rule violation investigations, representing teams before national governing bodies, and representing national sports organizations with non-profit matters. Please click here to read about David’s role on these matters. |
|
|
What
do we do?
We represent coaches, athletes, broadcasters and teams in connection with contract negotiations and disputes, intellectual property and licensing, and NCAA investigations and compliance. In addition, we represent sporting leagues and institutions in complex transactional, sponsorship, and intellectual property matters. |
 |
|
Jim Caldwell, Head Coach of the Indianapolis Colts and only the fifth ever first-year Head Coach to lead his team to the Super Bowl, is one of the many professional and NCAA coaches represented by Ropes & Gray's Sports Law Group.
We actively represent Coach Caldwell in connection with contract negotiations, including the first-ever "succession planning" coaching contract in the NFL. |
|
| What
have we done lately?
|
- We handle contract negotiations, speaking engagements, publishing contracts and other legal matters for over 30 Division I and professional head coaches in basketball and football, including Jim Caldwell of the Indianapolis Colts, Phil Martelli of St. Joseph's University, Jaime Dixon of the University of Pittsburgh, Ed Cooley of Providence College, Sydney Johnson of Fairfield University, Johnny Dawkins of Stanford University, Larry Shyatt of the University of Wyoming, and Fran Dunphy of Temple University. We also represent a variety of professional football assistant coaches, collegiate athletic administrators and broadcasters, such as Super Bowl XLI-winning former Head Coach of the Indianapolis Colts turned broadcaster Tony Dungy and 14 time Emmy award winning broadcaster Dick Enberg.
- We are outside general counsel to the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Based in Kansas City, the NABC and its members are powerful influences on the multibillion dollar sport of college basketball. The NABC calls on us to advise it on a wide range of activities, including the development of a strategy to reduce the number of early entrants (including both high school and college athletes) into the NBA Draft. After analyzing the NBA's collective bargaining agreement and its effect on the decisions of student-athletes to pursue professional careers, we assisted the NABC in crafting a "Three-Year-Rule" and have lobbied the NBA and the NBA Players Association to adopt it as part of a new NBA collective bargaining agreement. Recently, we have represented the NABC on matters in connection with complex licensing, sponsorship and endorsement matters, including a complex licensing agreement between the NABC and the NCAA.
- We represent Sportscaster's Hall of Fame Inductee, national broadcaster and 14-time Emmy Award-winner Dick Enberg in contract, sponsorship and endorsement contracts. We have represented Dick Enberg in connection with his agreement to become the voice of the San Diego Pagres, and with ongoing obligations with CBS Sports for US Open tennis coverage, contract negotiations with ESPN for Wimbledon and Australian Open coverage, as well as other voiceover and endorsement matters.
- We represent Tom Yeager, Commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association, in connection with a five-year contract extension with the Colonial Athletic Association.
- We represent the International Boxing Association in the structuring of and ongoing advice to the World Series of Boxing.
- We advise the Boston Athletic Association, one of the nation's oldest athletic clubs and organizer of the world-famous Boston Marathon, in connection with major sponsorship agreements with Adidas and other sponsorship agreements.
- We represented the Miami Beach Rowing Club in a rare successful appeal of the US Rowing Association decision that allowed the team to compete in the US Youth National Regatta.
- We represented Riddell, Inc., the official helmet provider for the National Football League, in connection with a football helmet license renewal with the National Football League.
- We have also represented a variety of colleges and universities, current and former coaches and student athletes in confidential matters regarding NCAA compliance investigations at a variety of Division I athletic programs. Many of our engagements result in the coach and players being cleared of all wrongdoing and no sanctions being imposed on the individuals or the University.
- In addition to the above, the Sports Law Group also represents other sporting leagues, associations and industry clients, such as the National Football Legaue.
|
When
do we meet?
Quarterly group lunch meetings.
|
|
