When media rights for a single sport season involve hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars in rights fees, you want your lawyers to know the industry. Covington has extensive experience in single sport network launches, regional sport network launches, television and new media content distribution agreements, joint ventures for digital content support, and all other facets of sports media. Clients include MLB, NASCAR, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, the NBA, the UFC, the USTA, the Professional Golfers Association of America, the Big East, IMG, and various professional sports franchises, college conferences, and individual universities.
Our nation’s leading sports media transactions team — led by partners Bruce Wilson, Doug Gibson, Peter Zern, and a group of talented partners, counsel, and associates from four of the firm’s six offices — has extensive experience negotiating sports media transactions with television and cable networks, satellite and cable distributors, wireless services, and evolving media platforms. The unsurpassed breadth of our sports media experience means that we understand the dynamics of sports related media rights — and both the opportunities and challenges that convergent technology presents for content owners developing sports media across emerging entertainment platforms.
Representative Matters
- Representation of the USOC in the grant of US media rights for the 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 Olympic games to Comcast/NBC.
- Representation of IMG College in the 20-year rights agreement with the University of Texas and ESPN to create the nation's largest 24-hour television network dedicated to covering a university's intercollegiate athletics, music, cultural arts, and academic programs.
- Representation of Turner Broadcasting in the 14-year television and new media rights agreement with the NCAA and CBS Sports, to present the Division I Men's Basketball Championship beginning in 2011 through 2024.
- Representation of Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League in the negotiation of joint venture ownership and carriage agreements for the launch and distribution of The MLB Network and The NHL Network, respectively.
- Negotiation of television, digital rights and satellite radio rights agreements for Major League Baseball, NASCAR, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, the USTA, the Professional Golfers Association of America, the Big East, and various professional sports franchises, college conferences, and individual universities, including negotiation of the record-setting, multi-year television agreements for the NFL with each of the major American networks (NBC, CBS, Fox, and ESPN) and with DirecTV for Sunday Ticket.
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