Sports
Throughout an athletic career, athletes and teams are faced with numerous important and demanding decisions in addition to their sporting commitments. These may involve complex issues related to income and commercial rights, contracts, and life after the career has ended. Sound decisions off the field provide security, predictability and freedom of action, both now and in the long term. At Brækhus, we offer comprehensive legal advisory services covering the entire life cycle of an athlete’s career.
Our strength lies in the combination of specialist legal expertise and broad industry insight. Several of our lawyers have personal experience from elite sports and sports governance. Our goal is simple: to be your trusted legal sparring partner—someone you can call whenever questions arise, whether related to contracts, tax, intellectual property rights, real estate or wealth planning.
Through our international network, Meritas Sports, we work closely with leading sports lawyers around the world. This enables us to provide seamless assistance in cross-border matters such as international assignments, relocation, transfers and international agreements.
We assist athletes and teams with clarifications and structuring to ensure a correct and predictable tax position in both national and international employment relationships. Our advice covers salary, bonuses, sponsorship income, prize money and media income, as well as social security and pension matters.
We ensure necessary clarifications before and during stays abroad and apply tax treaties and international regulations to identify the most appropriate solutions while complying with all international obligations.
For some athletes, it may be both possible and beneficial to operate through a company. We help assess when this is appropriate and handle the practical aspects of company formation.
We assist with the establishment, commercialisation and enforcement of rights related to name, image and trademarks. We also support negotiations of sponsorship agreements, licence agreements and other collaboration agreements.
This may include the use of an athlete’s name and image in social media, campaigns and TV productions; trademark and design protection of club names, logos and supporter merchandise; or licensing of rights for merchandise collections, training concepts and digital platforms. We ensure that your rights are properly registered, structured and contractually regulated, giving you full control over who may use them, for what purposes and on what terms.
Brækhus advises athletes, clubs, sports federations and commercial stakeholders on drafting and negotiating sponsorship, cooperation and licence agreements, as well as enforcing rights in cases of misuse—such as unauthorised use of athletes’ images in advertising, copying of supporter merchandise, or conflicts between competing sponsorship and equipment agreements. Proper IP management is often decisive for commercial value creation, reputation protection and conflict prevention.
We assist with the acquisition, sale and structuring of real estate, both private and commercial, in Norway and abroad. We review purchase agreements, financing structures and lease agreements, and assess property portfolios in connection with tax, wealth accumulation and family law considerations.
We review and negotiate all types of sports-related agreements, including club and transfer agreements, agent agreements, and sponsorship and media contracts. Our objective is to ensure clear frameworks, reduce risk and safeguard your interests—both legally and commercially.
We offer holistic, tailor-made solutions addressing personal matters such as prenuptial agreements and cohabitation agreements, inheritance and succession planning, wills, future powers of attorney, and financial settlements following relationship breakdowns.
No athletic career is the same. Through customised cohabitation agreements and prenuptial agreements, we provide solutions that work both during and after the career, ensuring clear and lasting ownership structures.
We also assist with transfers of assets and rights as part of generational succession, as well as wills and inheritance settlements, ensuring that family members, children and any companies are well protected. In cases of relationship breakdown, we help achieve orderly financial settlements and solutions that reduce conflict.
For some athletes, organising activities through a company may be both possible and financially advantageous. We assist with the establishment and structuring of investment and holding companies, often used by elite athletes to manage share and fund investments, sponsorship income and commercial projects.
In connection with company formation, we advise on choice of corporate structure, establishment, ownership structure, board composition and necessary agreements between shareholders and partners, as well as preparation for exit structures—whether through sale or collaboration with new co-investors.
We also assist clubs and sports organisations with the assessment and structuring of investor models where relevant.
Brækhus assists in several hundred disputes each year, both inside and outside the courts. Each case is unique and carefully analysed before objectives and strategy are determined. We handle a wide range of matters, including enforcement of elite athletes’ trademark rights before the courts.
We also represent clients before sports-specific dispute resolution and disciplinary bodies.
For agents – a legal partner at your side
As an agent, you are often the athlete’s primary point of contact. We ensure that you have strong legal support throughout all processes, allowing you to focus on relationships, negotiations and sporting strategy.
We assist, among other things, with:
- drafting and quality assurance of agent and representation agreements
- structuring of fees, bonuses and success fees
- advice on national and international transfers
- assessment of conflicts and disputes, and strategic negotiation support
Read more about Brækhus’ expertise: Gambling, Gaming and eSports
Get in touch
Whether you are a young athlete, an established profile, a team representative, or an agent responsible for multiple careers, the threshold for contacting us should be low. We offer a non-binding initial conversation to explore how we can create security and structure at every stage of the career—on and off the field.
