Sports Advisory

Sports and business are increasingly intertwined; however, sport has some way to go to match the governance and compliance structures that exist in the corporate world. These frameworks are not only vital to operate sports with honest competition but are needed to build trust in order to attract sponsorships, media rights and investments into them.

We serve as trusted advisors to the world's leading organizations across the sports sector, assisting them in reviews of existing integrity risk management programs, providing benchmarking, gap analysis, and restructuring all the way to a full design and delivery of a new integrity program. 

When a crisis emerges, our multidisciplinary team of experts has extensive experience in assisting global sporting organizations in delivering tailored investigations on areas that include, bribery & corruption, financial fair play, behavioral misconduct matters and financial improprieties. We have worked on investigations across every geographic region and provided expert support in proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sports.

We assist global sporting federations, host cities and countries in navigating the political, governance and reputational risks that form part of the life cycle of running major events, from ensuring a fair and transparent bidding process to managing and hosting the actual event.

Our team of former ambassadors, trade negotiators and senior diplomats frequently assist sporting organizations and hosts of major events to navigate the complex political, economic, and regulatory environments where sport and politics intersect. 

Ankura has extensive experience with capital projects, including in the sports sector. We act as a trusted advisor to the project sponsor/owner/Club throughout the project lifecycle from delivery body establishment and capability building, development of procurement and delivery strategy, through construction and transition into service. We can also ensure integrity, human rights and social risks are managed on the project and in the supply chain. For ongoing projects, we provide independent review and assurance and, if required, programme turnaround and dispute resolution.

We advise clients on equity investments into sports and other mergers and acquisitions activity, working across the complete transactions lifecycle from transaction strategy to planning, diligence and execution. We have assisted investors with the identification of sports assets as targets and our valuation experts have extensive experience of valuing sporting assets including clubs and media rights.

We have extensive experience of conducting enhanced due diligence investigations into organizations and individuals worldwide. We assist investors in de-risking deals at all stages of the investment process, from pre-transactional due diligence to disputes support and asset tracing. We also support organizations in identifying external threats to their brand and reputation.

Data, privacy, and security are constant concerns in today’s cyber threat environment with sports organizations particularly at risk due to the categories of personal data they hold on participants and supporters, their public brand and reputation, or their hosting of major events and tournaments. Our global team of cybersecurity practitioners includes leaders with extensive experience as members of the intelligence community, law enforcement personnel and federal agents, digital forensic specialists, and founders of pioneering cyber technology firms. We have handled some of the largest and most sensitive cybersecurity incidents and regularly advise leading organizations on their data privacy policies.

Ankura's team of legal professionals, forensics experts, data scientists, and software developers deliver responsive, intelligent, defensible, and cost-efficient e-Discovery solutions. Our team combines expertise in computer forensics, advanced analytics, as well data hosting, processing, and production to tackle your most complex discovery challenges across investigations and disputes.

Today, data is everywhere and continuing to increase at a remarkable rate. Our experts assist organizations to sift through the massive volumes of information to pinpoint trends, understand their customers and stakeholders, streamline operations, predict performance, assess risk and develop competitive advantage.