When the stakes are highest, professional sports teams, universities, and athletes turn to Hogan Lovells to resolve their most consequential disputes.

The sports industry's evolving landscape has elevated arbitration as a critical mechanism for navigating these high-stakes matters — from salary arbitration in professional leagues to college athletics infractions proceedings. These fora demand deep substantive knowledge, persuasive advocacy, and strategic judgment informed by the unique pressures of the sports world.

Hogan Lovells is a recognized leader in sports disputes. Over the past five years, we have achieved a .625 winning percentage on behalf of Major League Baseball clubs across the 16 salary arbitration cases we have presented — a rate significantly higher than the industry average. That record reflects not only our command of collective bargaining frameworks, player performance analytics, and league-specific financial rules, but also the confidence our clients place in us to deliver results when it matters most.

At the collegiate level, we are a go-to firm for the most significant NCAA enforcement actions. We have successfully represented two Division I men's basketball programs in high-stakes enforcement proceedings before the NCAA's Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) — navigating a novel and complex adjudicatory process that carried the potential for severe institutional penalties, including postseason bans, scholarship reductions, and show-cause orders. None of those consequences resulted in our matters, where the outcomes were widely seen and publicized as massive victories for the programs. We have also represented individual athletes in complex eligibility disputes with the NCAA, and our team also routinely advises leading power conference institutions on compliance with the House Settlement and College Sports Commission (“CSC”) rules. As disputes involving NIL and eligibility transition to the newly formed CSC arbitration process, we are well positioned to remain the practice of choice for institutions confronting the most serious infractions matters in college athletics.

Across both professional and collegiate settings, these proceedings share common demands: meticulous preparation, mastery of specialized procedural rules, and a keen appreciation for strategic implications that extend well beyond the hearing room. Public scrutiny, media attention, and the potential for outcomes to reshape careers, programs, and institutional reputations amplify the stakes at every stage. Hogan Lovells brings proven experience and a demonstrated record of success to each engagement, delivering the caliber of advocacy these high-profile matters require.