Team size: Eight

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

As the commercial arm of the Bundesliga company, Bundesliga International, we conducted a tender for licenses in physical and digital collectibles including non-fungible token (NFT) technology in early summer 2022. The underlying tender documents set a benchmark in the sports industry for monetisation of NFT technology both in terms of rights packaging as well as legal framework. The extremely high level of constant change in the field of NFT did face our team with unique challenges, since the applicable mandatory and statutory law was not prepared for the indefinite term of usage and the transferability of digital assets like NFTs. During the tender, Bundesliga International was able to increase Bundesliga’s revenues in the field of collectibles and to enter into three highly valuable partnerships with Topps, Sorare and OneFootball. The tender documents delivered a precise and robust distinction between the different license products and allowed Bundesliga International to award the respective packages to those three companies. The financial results, as well as the variety and the quality of the existing and upcoming official Bundesliga collectible products, are outstanding.

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years?

A professional and global sports property like Bundesliga is always looking for new monetisation models. In time of globalisation and digitalisation, this search becomes more and more difficult on the one hand, but on the other hand, also provides various additional potential monetisation opportunities almost every day, be it due to technical development, revolutions, or global consumer trends. The identification and exploitation of such opportunities, the creation of enhanced or entirely new rights packages, the adjustment and improvement of contractual frameworks, are all ongoing and constantly accelerating challenge. To master this challenge, a legal in-house counsel has to develop a proper commercial mindset and must always work hand-in-hand with the operational teams.

If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or general counsel, what would it be and why?

Expertise and talent are the basis. Target-group related communication is the key. Always look at things from your prospect’s perspective. This is the only way to deserve your colleagues’ respect, to convince your stakeholders, to persuade your negotiation partner, to successfully sell your assets and to have your team to the best possible results at the end.