Sports

Field-leading sports counsel

   

overview

Burns & Levinson’s Sports Practice attorneys are a valuable business partner with our clients in the sports industry. We are dedicated to fostering growth in this industry by identifying opportunities for our clients. With our assistance, our team has successfully completed deals, handled transactions and resolved disputes for leagues, franchises, owners, investors, athletes, vendors, suppliers, media and technology companies on the professional, intercollegiate and interscholastic levels. We also represent those who provide services, technology, sponsorship and facilities to the sports industry, as well as manufacturers of sporting goods and apparel.

Sports is an exciting and challenging area of the law in which to practice. Clients receive guidance from our attorneys on the legal maze of negotiating terms, securing financing, and reach the ultimate goal of closing the deal. In addition, our attorneys are advisors for and participate on company and organization boards and committees, including the recently formed Israel Baseball League.

Our clients can score high by leveraging our experience in many cross disciplines. As a full service firm, we are able to cover every aspect – corporate, litigation, finance, intellectual property, tax, media and entertainment, real estate, labor and employment, securities, and franchising.

Services

  • Setting up professional leagues
  • Buying and selling franchises
  • Structuring and negotiating financing transactions and investments and employment and talent agreements
  • Negotiating stadium leasing, concession agreements/contracts and sponsorship and rights agreements
  • Protecting, licensing and litigating of intellectual property rights
  • Mediating, arbitrating and litigating a multitude of issues

representative engagements

  • Negotiation of Rights Agreements with MLB.com and NASCAR.
  • Negotiation of Licensing Agreement with ESPN, ABC Sports, FOX Sports and Turner Sports.
  • Purchase of Boston Indoor Franchise of the National Lacrosse League
  • General Counsel to Sportvision, provider of the 1st and Ten™ line and other sports broadcast enhancements, in multiple financings and eventual sale.
  • Merger of two Sports-Technology Companies.
  • Representation of Reebok in multiple matters with respect to player contract disputes.
  • Representation of Sports Consulting Firm.
  • Sale of Augusta Greenjackets, (Minor League Baseball Team) to Ripken Enterprises.
  • Purchase of Modesto Nuts (Minor League Baseball Team).
  • Serving on the Advisory Board of the Israeli Baseball League.
  • Purchase of Mobile Bay Bears (Minor League Baseball Team).

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P M A S T R O C O L A @ B U R N S L E V . C O M

September 27, 2024

Statement of Managing Partner Paul Mastrocola Regarding Burns & Levinson LLP

Sixty‐four years ago, Tom Burns and Larry Levinson decided to start their own law firm. It was to be rooted in hard work, smart lawyering and a steadfast commitment to client service. It was to be entrepreneurial, creative and willing to buck some of the exclusionary trends that existed in the Boston legal market at the time. The firm thrived, drawing diverse and remarkable talent to its platform, providing excellent client service and enjoying great stability across the many years.

In fact, in 2023, the firm had its highest revenue year and our partners’ practices soared with major courtroom victories, important corporate deals, and sophisticated intellectual property, real estate and private client work. The year also brought important – if uncomfortable for some ‐ discussions about governance, compensation and support. These inflection moments are not new to legal partnerships; sometimes they are weathered and sometimes they are not. It was in this context and amidst the fast‐moving law firm environment in the Boston market that things changed for the firm in 2024.

Over the years, Burns & Levinson had repeatedly declined to pursue inquiries from national firms about potential mergers. Yet this year, various partners decided to take opportunities to move their practices – and along with them others who supported those practices – to other platforms. This inevitably created an environment in which other firms approached our attorneys. Many felt worried about the future and determined to leave as well. To meet the obligations left to those of us who chose to remain together and to give Burns & Levinson a chance at another chapter, the partnership decided to engage in merger discussions with other firms. Over the past months, we have been honored by the offers of merger we have received from national and regional firms.

Unfortunately, after exhaustive analysis, we have determined that the economics, the timeline and the complexity of deals offered would not work for the remaining partners as a group and for our wonderfully varied practices. Ultimately, as a partnership, we have decided that it is better for our amazing attorneys to move on to different firms where each of our practices can thrive and our clients can – and will – be well served. Burns & Levinson LLP will continue in the short term and then will engage in an orderly wind down of its operations.

Over the coming months, we anticipate that our staunch and extraordinary team of lawyers and staff will announce their next steps. We are proud of each and every one of them, and we feel privileged to have collaborated with this group to explore all options and arrive at the best solution for our clients and our practices. We are sad to bid farewell to this amazing Boston institution; but we know that the lawyers and staff who chose to honor their commitment to one another and remain together throughout this time are the best in the business and will thrive in their new homes.