Sport

onside law is one of the pre-eminent sports specialist law firms in the UK. Our aim is to blend our genuine industry experience at sports giant IMG with our first class city firm backgrounds. The extent of our industry experience is arguably unique and this enables us to provide added value to our clients as well as sound pragmatic commercial advice.

Our clients and recent work extend to advising federations/rights holders, sponsors, high profile individuals, and teams/clubs. Since our launch in 2005 we proudly count England football managers, Ryder Cup captains, and Davis Cup captains as clients.

• In golf we are responsible for the legal affairs of Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo and his many business interests, including major broadcasting deals with the likes of CBS, all sponsor deals, his renowned golf course design business, his burgeoning golf resorts and golf events businesses, player management, and his acclaimed Junior Series. Other clients include the likes of Justin Rose and Retief Goosen, equipment and clothing brands such as Srixon and Lyle & Scott, academies, and course design businesses.

• In tennis we advise the French Tennis Federation on various UK related matters including broadcasting and ticketing/hospitality arrangements, and on the widely reported recent High Court dispute with adidas. We also act for high profile players, and the current GB Davis Cup captain and coach, John Lloyd and Peter Lundgren respectively. We advise on major sponsorship deals such as the Blackrock Masters at the Albert Hall and the likes of Babolat and Dinamica.

• Our football experience includes acting for high profile managers such as Sven Goran Eriksson and Alan Pardew and players such as Matthew Upson, Zoltan Gera, and Teddy Sheringham. We advise clubs on all legal matters and many sponsors, such as National Express on its major sponsorship of Wembley and the FA. We have successfully represented clients at FA Disciplinary Hearings, and specialising in image rights, we advised on the largest transfer of the January 2007 transfer window. We are recognised as experts in football financing matters.

• In motor racing we act for many of the national race team companies in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport Series advising on a wide range of commercial matters including driver, sponsorship and technical team agreements as well as investment, intellectual property and tax structuring issues. Other clients include the FIA, SRO, Santa Pod Raceway, home of FIA’s European drag racing, and superbike racer Warwick Nowland.

• We advise on all aspects of many other sports, including in rugby the likes of World in Motion client, Brian O’Driscoll, and RTH07, the official ticket and hospitality agent to the 2007 Rugby World Cup, in cricket, Paragon Sports Management client Monty Panesar, athletics legend and Olympic Gold medallist Kelly Holmes, polar explorer Tom Avery, and all manner of other individuals, sponsors and rights holders.

• Sponsorship – We regularly advise on all types of sponsorship and promotional issues. We act for major sponsors, such as National Express on its Wembley & FA deal, and Sony Ericsson and Betfair on various matters. We also act for rights holders such as the Host Nation Committee for 2007 Rugby World Cup, Roland Garos, London Triathlon, and many high profile individuals on their sponsorship affairs. We advise Special Olympics Great Britain, the “third Olympics”, on all of their sponsorship matters. The Special Olympics in Beijing is the largest multi sport event in the world in 2007.

• Our partners’ vast experience also includes advising on:

1. O2’s RFU shirt sponsorship, Lloyds TSB’s title sponsorship of the 6 Nations, Dial-a-Phone’s shirt sponsorship of Middlesbrough FC, Nike’s kit supply/sponsorship for Sunderland FC, ABN Amro’s participation in the Volvo Ocean Race, NH Hotels’ sponsorship of the Davis Cup, Dunlop’s sponsorship of the ATP Open Seat Godo in Barcelona, and Natal Shark's record breaking 'Red/Mr Price' deal.
2. Contracts for the ATP Seniors Tour of Champions, FIS World Alpine Ski Championships, the Welsh Rugby Union, ISU World Figure and Speed Skating Championships, FISA World Cup Rowing Regattas, the Middlesex Sevens, World Handball Championships and the Swedish Tennis Federation.
3. Rights-holder sponsorship deals such as Tour of Britain's deal with T-Mobile and the British Triathlon Association's record-breaking deal with Corus plc.
4. Endorsement and client service agreements including Ralf Schumacher/Toyota, Sven Göran-Eriksson/Naxos, Tim Henman/Adidas & Ariel, Carlos Moya/Nike, Guillermo Coria/Prince, Tommy Haas/Asics, Bernhard Langer/Lacoste, Justin Rose/TaylorMade, Nick Faldo/Nike & LloydsTSB, Retief Goosen/Rolex, Padraig Harrington/Wilson & O2, Colin Montgomerie/Callaway & Yonex.
5. The purchase of all commercial rights (including broadcasting rights) to the Italian Masters Series tennis event. The official apparel contract between adidas and the R&A for the Open Championship, and all other licensing and merchandising contracts for the Open and the Ryder Cup.
6. The title Sponsorship of the HSBC World Matchplay (£1m first prize) and all legal aspects of that tournament, together with the Senior British Open, the Weetabix Women’s British Open and the Dunhill Links.