Wiggin LLP

Wiggin’s sports team specialises in the funding, creation and execution of high value commercial opportunities which form the bedrock for the funding of sport. We’re best known for advising both sports rights holders and buyers of high-value audio-visual and data rights.

Recent changes

We’ve recently added a team that specialises in the “Business of Football” to bolster our M&A and regulatory credentials. Our team of football-focused lawyers has been involved in the most complex issues in football since the early days of the English Premier League, whether that be buying and selling football franchises, complex litigation of the most sensitive nature involving elite football organisations, or regulatory matters that dominate the sports news of the day.

Our experience

We’ve advised on the buying and selling of media rights across every distribution platform and helped launch some of the world’s leading direct-to-consumer services. We use our experience to help clients navigate the legal and regulatory issues that traditional B2B operators don’t face, such as broadcasting regulation, advertising compliance, music licensing, consumer law issues and data protection.

Our deep understanding of the sports sector and experience of sitting on both sides of the table means we’re often instructed to advise clients on new exploitation strategies – whether NFTs, the metaverse or the convergence of pre-existing sectors with gamification or bespoke content creation.

We also work across the entire advertising, marketing and promotions space. We act for sponsors, rightsholders and the agencies in between on traditional sponsorships and work with a range of teams, tournaments and governing bodies on the innovative technology-driven partnerships that are becoming increasingly common in the sports world.

Our sports team is well-versed in the challenges involved in licensing high value sports rights, whether for the creation of long-form programming, branded content, brand activations, computer games, NFTs, white label deals with betting operators or traditional talent deals.

We have a wealth of experience in numerous sports advising on the application and interpretation of various sport specific regulations including advising on a large number of disciplinary matters before sport specific panels and tribunals. 

We can also help when things go wrong – whether that’s high profile disputes with former players, managers and directors of clubs, through to more discrete disputes with suppliers, agents and sponsors – we have the experience to help.

Our clients include Premier League football clubs, global governing bodies, major marketing agencies, broadcasters, bookmakers, video games developers as well as a range of global digital sports businesses and brands engaging with advertising and marketing within the sporting arena.

“A very strong team with great commercial insight that delivers on time.”

Chambers UK, 2025