Sports, Media & Entertainment

The boundaries separating sports, entertainment, media, technology, and digital commerce have largely disappeared. Professional sports organizations operate as media companies. Entertainment properties are built on technology platforms. Intellectual property is monetized across streaming services, gaming environments, social media, and AI-driven applications simultaneously. The commercial arrangements underlying these industries have grown just as complex, and just as interconnected.

Archer's Sports, Media & Entertainment Group advises clients at the center of this convergence. Our attorneys bring deep experience across professional and collegiate sports, entertainment, media, and emerging technologies, along with firsthand knowledge of the industries we serve. We pair that experience with the full resources of a firm that handles sophisticated transactions, intellectual property prosecution and enforcement, litigation, and regulatory matters across every relevant discipline.

Much of our work is transactional and business-focused. We negotiate and structure complex commercial arrangements involving:

• Sponsorship, marketing, and brand partnerships
• Media and broadcast rights
• Licensing, production, and development
• Talent, endorsement, and NIL
• Technology and intellectual property

We also advise on acquisitions and dispositions, investments, corporate governance, and strategic transactions, drawing on the broader resources of a full-service firm when clients need support in areas such as real estate, employment, litigation, privacy, and regulatory matters.

 Sports

We represent leagues and governing bodies, clubs, ownership groups, athletes and agencies, event and venue operators, and sports media and technology companies. Our work spans league formation and governance, franchise acquisitions and dispositions, relocations and rebrandings, team investments, broadcast and multimedia rights, venue and event agreements, sponsorships and naming rights, NIL strategy and transactions, athlete representation, intellectual property portfolio management, and sports technology and data arrangements.

Our experience reaches domestic and international competition across a broad range of properties, including soccer, basketball, football, cricket, lacrosse, tennis, cycling, and esports. Our attorneys have provided legal and operational leadership for major international sporting events and advised on the establishment, growth, and commercialization of professional sports properties.

Entertainment & Media

We represent artists, producers, creators, production companies, studios, streaming platforms, publishers, and technology businesses across music, film, television, live entertainment, and digital media. Our work includes development and production agreements, talent and endorsement arrangements, recording and publishing, licensing and distribution, brand partnerships and sponsorships, creator agreements, and complex technology and media transactions.

Our attorneys have represented Grammy-winning and nominated artists and producers, Emmy-nominated filmmakers, and companies working with some of the world's leading entertainment and media brands. We also help clients protect, license, monetize, and enforce the intellectual property that drives their businesses, including valuable music, audiovisual, trademark, and other creative assets.

Technology & Digital Platforms

We represent software companies, esports and gaming organizations, digital platform operators, AI companies, and technology-driven enterprises at the intersection of sports, entertainment, media, and technology, across esports and gaming, digital media, Web3, artificial intelligence, data, and social media.

Our work includes the commercial and legal arrangements these businesses depend on: SaaS and software licensing, AI development and model-training agreements, platform and digital content agreements, esports and gaming contracts, Web3 and NFT arrangements, data-use and privacy compliance and agreements, creator agreements, and master services agreements with major technology and media companies. Our attorneys are at the forefront of emerging issues in AI, esports, and digital commerce, having negotiated innovative and first-of-their-kind agreements in these spaces.

Strategic Transactions & Outside General Counsel

We represent buyers and sellers in acquisitions involving sports teams, entertainment companies, music catalogs, and valuable intellectual property. We advise investors and institutional partners on sports and entertainment investments, joint ventures, and other strategic commercial arrangements. And we serve as ongoing outside general counsel and fractional general counsel to organizations that want experienced industry counsel embedded in their business, handling everything from day-to-day contracts and governance to complex transactions and disputes as they arise.

How We Help

• Commercial transactions, sponsorships, and brand partnerships
• Media, broadcast, and content rights
• Licensing, production, and development agreements
• NIL, publicity rights, and athlete representation
• Team, league, and property acquisitions and investments
• Music catalog licensing transactions
• Intellectual property portfolio strategy, prosecution, licensing, and enforcement
• AI, software, and technology transactions
• Esports, gaming, and interactive media
• Web3, digital platform, and creator agreements
• Privacy, data, and digital compliance
• Outside fractional general counsel services
• Dispute resolution and litigation

Our clients operate in industries where business models, technology, and audiences can change rapidly. We bring the industry knowledge, transactional experience, intellectual property capabilities, and broader legal resources to help clients navigate that change, capitalize on new opportunities, and protect the value of what they build.