At The Top of Their Game: Black Professional Sports General Counsel
By David Moreno, Partner, Brown Rudnick Professional Sports General Counsel now face a range of new opportunities and challenges. These include:
AN EXPANDING ROLE
Some general counsel in professional sports have leveraged their range of skills into broader leadership roles such as general manager. Some general counsel have seen their roles grow and expand on the business side. An even smaller group has leveraged these experiences into seats on public and private boards.
ADVOCATES FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
Social justice has been adopted by many professional sports players worldwide; teams and leagues are being asked to be more accountable. Sports fans and the public expect more now from their teams. What role do Black general counsel need to play in this?
CAPITALIZING ON EMERGING TRENDS IN THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS
NFTs are an increasing source of monetization for both teams and their fans. How will general counsel in sports take more of an active role on decision making around innovations like these?
64 BIHC ANNUAL REPORT
Such developments will be discussed in the Black General Counsel Roundtable: Professional Sports Chapter. All general David Moreno counsel pictured are founding members of this group. In 2018, Black In House Counsel Network (BIHC) launched the Black General Counsel Roundtable. That group now includes more than 60 general counsels at companies worth $3 billion or more in revenue. Now BIHC is launching a network of Black general counsel in the highest ranks of the professional sports community – The Black General Counsel Roundtable: Professional Sports Chapter. This network is intended to create a space where complex and unique issues pertaining to professional sports are discussed, and creative and proactive solutions are developed. The community is designed to offer its members opportunities to enhance their professional development through a series of quarterly roundtables with a network of supportive peers.
