Action Sports

FSG is one of California’s premier law firms serving the actions sports industry.   Our clients include surfers, skiers, snowboarders, skaters and other action sports competitors.  We work with sponsors for these athletes, as well as leading apparel companies and other manufacturers serving the industry.  Our clients include many prominent brands which operate both domestically and abroad.  We have also represented several ski resorts including: Snow Summit; Bear Mountain; Snow Valley; Sierra-at-Tahoe; and Northstar-at-Tahoe.

Our attorneys are not only exceptional legal representatives but also are personally active in the industry, serving in positions with the ASP Professional Surf Tour, Surfing America, SurfAid International, and the Ocean Institute.  We understand the needs of action sports professionals and companies from an insider’s viewpoint.

How We Help
Our Action Sports Practice Group  provides practical solutions to the wide variety of legal issues facing our action sports clients in all areas affecting their business life cycle, including:

Much of our work begins in the Corporate & Business Law arena, and in this respect we have represented both sponsors and individual athletes in countless professional athlete sponsorship contract negotiations. Our work also includes:

  • Advising and assisting start-up businesses
  • Entity formation, Shareholder agreements and other general corporate governance matters
  • Negotiating and documenting strategic business alliances such as joint ventures, licenses, production and distribution agreements
  • Independent sales representative and employment agreements
  • Negotiating and documenting factoring and asset based lending arrangements
  • Structuring, negotiating and documenting mergers and acquisitions
  • Providing financial crisis management and advice
  • Ongoing business advice

When our action sports clients need legal help in promoting and protecting their brand or intellectual property, they seek the counsel of our highly experienced Intellectual Property Law attorneys.  This assistance typically includes:

  • Athlete endorsement agreements
  • Sponsorship agreements and athlete releases for sporting events
  • Domestic and international licensing and distribution agreements
  • Registering and enforcing trademarks and copyrights
  • Breach of contract and other business litigation

Another example of our assistance is in Employment & Labor Law, in which we regularly counsel employers regarding the review, development, and implementation of personnel policies and employee handbooks. We also help employers avoid employment law liability, particularly in the sexual harassment area.  In litigation matters, FSG represents both large and small employers in wrongful discharge litigation, discrimination litigation, sexual harassment litigation, unfair competition litigation, and wage and hour disputes. Our attorneys have successfully represented numerous executives and also numerous professional athletes against fabricated or exaggerated sexual harassment charges. We have investigated and successfully resolved several dozen such cases without any adverse publicity to the corporate client, the executive or the athlete.

FSG also assists action sports companies with real estate matters (such as purchase or lease of manufacturing, distribution and retail facilities), taxation law counseling, and handling government regulations and compliance issues.  FSG’s Action Sports Practice Group is the full-service legal solution for your needs.  To learn more, contact FSG today.