Sports Law

Hecker Fink lawyers have built an established reputation of success representing sports leagues, teams, players, and agents facing a broad range of issues. The firm’s practice includes representing professional sports leagues and athletes in commercial disputes, sports teams and entertainment ventures in government investigations, and universities in Title IX-related athletic disputes. The firm also has extensive experience conducting internal investigations, including an investigation into allegations of gender inequities in the NCAA championships.

In recognizing the firm, Legal 500 US highlighted that “high-profile athletes and professional sports leagues rely on Hecker Fink LLP's strong track record of handling contentious issues in the sports space.” Lawdragon has named Kate Doniger, Mike Ferrara, Julie Fink, David Gopstein, Sean Hecker, John Quinn, and Gabrielle Tenzer among its “500 Leading Global Entertainment, Sports & Media Lawyers.”

Representative Sports Law Matters

• Representation of an international champion athlete in various Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) cross-border investigations.
• Representation of a professional sports league in defending a class action suit brought by FTX customers, asserting securities fraud claims based on the league’s advertising relationship with FTX.
• Representation of a professional sports league in a breach of contract suit.
• Representation of a professional sports league in connection with multiple matters involving potential disputes under the league Constitution.
• Representation of a sports entertainment venture in connection with a DOJ, Antitrust Division investigation that resulted in the government taking no action of any kind against the company.
• Representation of a professional sports team in connection with a DOJ investigation.
• Representation of professional golfers Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Davis Love III in connection with third-party subpoenas in the matter of Klayman v. PGA Tour et al., which alleged violations of Florida’s antitrust and competition laws.
• Representation of professional golfers James Hahn, Kevin Kisner, and Cameron Young, and agent Mark Steinberg in connection with third-party subpoenas in the matter of Jones et al. v. PGA Tour, Inc., in which LIV Golf and others alleged breach of contract, antitrust, and other violations on the part of the PGA Tour.
• Conducted an investigation into gender equity issues with the championships of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), resulting in two in-depth reports that led to significant changes in Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball and other NCAA championships.