Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro has the largest sports management practice group on the West Coast and one of the most active in the country, dealing with the day-to-day operation of sports franchises, professional leagues and sports sponsorships. Our lawyers represent owners, teams, leagues and sponsors – not athletes or agents. We have formed leagues, bought and sold teams, negotiated naming rights and broadcast rights, advised teams and leagues on nearly all aspects of their operations, and handled some of the highest profile litigation and arbitration proceedings in the sports industry.

Many law firms that claim to have a sports law practice often represent only selected athletes or selected regional teams. For more than two decades JMBM and its attorneys have developed a broad range of experience across the entire sports spectrum. We have a national practice – representing teams and sponsors located all across the country (and occasionally outside the U.S. as well).

Our lawyers have experience with every major professional sport, as well as many of the rising action sports. With more than 20 years of experience dealing with teams' operational issues, no sports problem is new to us. Frequently we find that our experience dealing with legal problems in one sport enables us to help our clients in other sports avoid those same or similar problems.

The range of our legal advice and assistance to team owners, leagues and sponsors encompasses the following professional sports: 

Baseball - including the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies 

• Basketball - including the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Sparks 
• Hockey - The National Hockey League (NHL) and the West Coast Hockey League 
• Football - one of our attorneys is a former NFL player and was also President and Chief Operating Officer of the Los Angeles Xtreme of the XFL 
• Motocross - Kawasaki race teams at all levels 
• Soccer - one of the major European professional soccer teams and the Continental Indoor Soccer League 
• Boxing - Forum Boxing 
• Surfing, Skiing, Snowboarding and Skateboarding - Quiksilver, Roxy, Rossignol and DC Shoes teams 
• Volleyball - Association of Volleyball Professional (AVP) 
• Other Extreme sports - National Professional Paintball League and Roller Hockey International

We can help prospective owners acquire a franchise, arrange for financing, set up a management team and walk them through each step in running a successful professional sports organization. We have years of experience that can help you in acquiring either a major or minor league team. Our lawyers have also set up leagues such as the West Coast Hockey League and the Continental Indoor Soccer League.

In our more than 20 years in the sports industry, we have built relationships with the people you need to know in order to establish or grow your existing sports business: 

• Important league administrators and team owners in each of the major sports leagues 
• Local and national government officials 
• Stadium and arena owners and managers 
• Broadcast and cable network executives 
• Agents and athletes

Perhaps the fastest growing segment of JMBM's national sports practice involves sponsorships and the intellectual property rights involved in sponsorships and endorsement agreements. Our firm has represented a number of companies in these contracts, as well as numerous teams and leagues in negotiation of their sponsorship agreements.

We have also advised such rapidly expanding sponsors as Quicksilver and its affiliates in events like surfing, snowboarding, skiing and skateboarding. JMBM’s unique knowledge of both the sports and entertainment worlds allows us to advise sponsor clients on how best to grow their business.

Few law firms have more experience than ours with negotiating stadium and arena naming rights. We have represented both stadium officials and corporate sponsors in these facility naming rights deals: 

• M&T Bank in its stadium naming rights deal for the Baltimore Ravens' Stadium 
• The Forum Arena in its naming rights deal with Great Western Bank 
• Mandalay Sports Entertainment (MSE), (a subsidiary of Mandalay Entertainment Group), and the Dayton Dragons in their stadium naming rights deal with Fifth Third Bank (Fifth Third Bancorp)

Our attorneys have many years of expertise in all operation of facilities management -- from leasing a stadium, real estate issues, concessions licensing agreements, and luxury box and seat licenses to selling licensing of naming rights for individual portions of a facility.

No other law firm has surpassed JMBM’s role in the 35-year old system of Major League Baseball (MLB) arbitration. We have represented seven MLB teams in salary arbitrations – and currently represent more than any other law firm. That has included such high-profile successes for our clients as representing the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2004 case involving Cy Young Award winning pitcher Eric Gagne and representing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in their 2008 case with All-Star relief pitcher Francisco Rodriguez.