Offering a comprehensive range of services, Ice Miller is dedicated to providing athletics departments and collegiate sports vendors, merchandisers, and sports tech companies top-notch support and real-time guidance across various critical areas impacting the dynamic world of college sports today.

Combining the dual capabilities of our industry-focused collegiate sports regulatory, transactional, employment, and litigation lawyers with the robust experience of our Higher Education practice, we bring in-depth knowledge of how universities work and relate to their athletics department, the business of college athletics, and the broader policy environment shaping the future of college athletics.

Maximizing Revenue

Our multidisciplinary approach to legal and advocacy services helps collegiate athletics programs unlock and maximize revenue in today’s evolving legal and commercial landscape where revenue is king. Leveraging our deep experience in intellectual property, we work with clients to develop comprehensive IP strategies that enhance the value of athletic brands and assets. We also help our clients navigate transactions involving naming rights for stadiums and venues, media rights, and vendor contracts. Further, as our clients evaluate their investment needs and goals, our business, corporate, and commercial teams assist in structuring athletics departments as investment-ready entities, opening doors to private equity, private credit, and other public-private partnerships. From the construction of new facilities and redeveloping and enhancing stadium sites into sports entertainment districts to facilitating the growth of revenue-sharing  models and acquiring public and private capital sources, Ice Miller provides strategic legal counsel that empowers clients to build sustainable and diversified revenue streams in collegiate athletics.

Ensuring Compliance

Ice Miller’s collegiate athletics lawyers closely monitor the rapidly evolving legal landscape surrounding collegiate athletics to help clients maintain compliance and stay ahead of regulatory change. This vigilant approach helps protect clients from legal risk and positions them to capitalize on emerging opportunities in a dynamic and competitive environment.

From the implications of the House settlement, fair market value standards for NIL deals, and shifting state and federal regulations to Department of Education guidance on Title IX and transgender athlete inclusion, the emerging enforcement role of the Power 4 conferences, immigration related to international student-athlete needs, and ongoing NCAA eligibility reforms—Ice Miller can cover any and all compliance and operational needs.

Defending Your Interests

Ice Miller brings decades of litigation experience to the higher education sector, offering robust defense and strategic counsel on emerging legal challenges. We fully anticipate that the post-House landscape will be a more litigious one as contract disputes, Title IX issues, and other matters will require that athletic departments and collegiate sports stakeholders have legal teams that understand the underlying legal issues of college sports and university athletic departments at play. With one of the nation’s largest and most experienced higher education practices, our dynamic litigation team is backed by Ice Miller’s higher education sector-focused lawyers who have represented over 250 institutions across 39 states, ranging from public research universities to private colleges and affiliated organizations. Drawing on our deep bench of attorneys and active involvement in national higher education legal forums, we help clients navigate complex compliance and litigation risks tied to student-athlete compensation, gender equity, and federal regulatory shifts.

Navigating an Evolving Policy and Regulatory Environment

Focused on forming and executing the best advocacy plan for your individual goals, Ice Miller government affairs and regulatory law attorneys help collegiate athletics programs, universities, athletic associations, and player organizations navigate and influence the complex policy landscape through strategic lobbying. Congress and state governments are becoming increasingly active in this space, and our Government Affairs and Regulatory Law lobbies in Washington, D.C. and in the states on collegiate sports issues. Ice Miller provides comprehensive representation at every level of government to collegiate sports stakeholders, and our bipartisan team brings decades of experience in legislative strategy, coalition building, and regulatory engagement, helping collegiate athletics stakeholders proactively shape policy, respond to legislative changes, and align their operational strategies accordingly.