Sponsorships
Not only clubs but also players partner up with domestic and international brands.
Individual player’s nowadays can develop a significant brand and are being reached out by companies about sponsorships and endorsements.
Players commercialize their image rights through licensing agreements with several entities – their league, club, players’ union and third parties – to allow these parties to commercially exploit their images for certain purposes.
Such agreements include use of the player’s image rights (look, name, nickname, likeness and other) and require personal appearances and photo-shoots, commercial and social media activation, corporate responsibilities and more. The scope of these licenses is determined by contract.
Yet with new opportunities come new challenges and contractual disputes emerge between players and clubs/leagues/others who may try to hold a stake over such rights due to the mega amounts they yield or in order to prevent conflict of interest with their own existing sponsors.
Our assistance is vital in such cases, mainly in defining what uses players can make of their image, and whether any rights or categories are exclusive to the licensee or prohibited from use.