At first glance, sports law can seem like a niche practice, but the scope of cases covered and clients represented is vast. According to NRL-player-turned-sports-lawyer Tim Fuller, “sports law is very broad and very encompassing”.

Sports lawyers, who work both in-house at organisations and in private practice, often tackle a myriad of cases. Practice areas may extend to dispute resolution, contract negotiations, sponsorship agreements, defamation, media and IP cases, drug and gaming scandals, selection disputes and broadcasting deals.

And it’s not only athletes that sport lawyers represent – there’s also the multitude of stakeholders invested in the world of sport, such as athletes’ families, managers, sponsors, clubs, unions and organisations.

Moving up the leaderboard

The legitimacy of sports law as a practice has been debated extensively over time, but Mr Fuller believes the fight has now been won – sports law has been crowned with its own title.

“I've seen absolutely how sport and the law are starting to collide and intermingle more,” says Mr Fuller.

“There’s always been this sort of debate – is it sport and the law, or is it sport law? – but without a doubt, sport law is now a legitimate practice area.”

Yet it can be hard for lawyers to secure their place as a player in the game, according to Lander & Rogers partner Ian Fullagar.

“Though there’s plenty of work, it’s a fairly narrow space in terms of sports law practitioners,” Mr Fullagar explains. “For those who are lucky enough to practise in sports law, there’s a lot of work going on – but it’s a difficult area to get in to.”

Swaab senior associate Tom Johnston agrees that sports law can be a specialised field, but most lawyers also dabble in other practice areas.

“There seems to be a fairly close-knit group of people doing sports law and, while some of them profess to be sports lawyers exclusively, most sports lawyers will all have some other core practice or area of expertise,” he says.

Good relationships are important in all areas of law, but even more so in sport. According to Mr Fuller, gaining trust is all important.  

“Sport is unique in the sense that it can be quite insular,” he says.

“It’s not easy to just knock on the door of the Brisbane Broncos and showcase your wares – it just doesn't happen like that.”

Overcoming hurdles

As the sports law industry grows alongside sport itself, different obstacles arise for players on both teams. Recently, a lack of governance in sporting organisations at the professional and grassroots level is wreaking havoc.

“I think the biggest area of concern that needs to be addressed is governance, including things such as composition of boards, director’s duties and responsibilities, processes, and so forth,” Mr Fuller says.

“The statutory authorities, such as the Australian Sports Commission, have guidelines that all national sporting organisations should follow, but really that should filter down to the professional, semi-professional and even grassroots level.”

The Australian Sports Commission seems to be responding to this need as they introduce a range of reforms, according to Mr Fullagar. Perhaps due to strict rule enforcement while athletes are hard at work, sometimes they can struggle with their integrity off the field – opening up a whole new ball game for lawyers.
There are the usual suspects of doping and gaming-related indiscretions, but integrity issues can be as simple as maintaining good general conduct.

“I’ve got no doubt that sport, if it wants to survive in the professional era, must have some strong processes in place to deal with misconduct,” Mr Fuller says.

As an example, Mr Fuller pointed to the relatively modest fine given to tennis player Nick Kyrgios for his recent verbal outburst at opponent Stan Wawrinka.

“Sport has very strong powers to be able to take disciplinary action, so for the ATP just to slap Kyrgios with a $10,000 fine for saying what he said is quite inexplicable.”

It’s not only the athletes who need to maintain their integrity – sporting bodies do too. Mr Fuller cited the AFL’s inaction towards racist behaviour directed at Adam Goodes as a major failure.

“The AFL were the pioneers when it came to eradicating racial vilification in sport, but they've come out of the Adam Goodes racism situation looking really tarnished,” Mr Fuller says.

Brawling for broadcasting

One area of sports law that more firms are now fighting over is broadcasting deals, according to Mr Fullagar.

“The AFL just did a $2.5 billion broadcasting deal, which is a pretty good deal in anyone’s practice,” he says.

Mr Fuller spoke of another large deal secured between the NRL and Channel 9 starting in 2018 but noted that the cable, digital and international rights are still to come.

“Broadcasting in many ways almost supersedes everything – broadcasting deals now are just gold,” Mr Fuller says.

Nonetheless, while billion-dollar deals may seem attractive, Mr Fuller urges that “what’s really important is you have to fundamentally understand the sport”.

“When we talk about the rules of a sport, essentially that is the law of the sport – that’s why sports law can’t just be an application of black-letter law,” Mr Fuller adds.

Mr Johnston adds that when dealing with athletes, the legal journey needs to be as quiet and smooth as possible to avoid public scrutiny.

“Athletes have all got valuable reputations to maintain, so you need to have a flexible approach to their needs. You can’t just be a black-letter lawyer,” Mr Johnston says.

“None of them want to fight or be in the limelight for the wrong reasons. As lawyers then, it’s our job to float under the surface and fix whatever the problem may be as quickly and quietly as possible.”