In the modern sporting arena, competition is no longer confined to the 90 minutes on a pitch or the seconds on a track. We have entered an era where sports is a sophisticated global ecosystem powered by billion-dollar investments, cutting-edge technology, iconic branding, and the strategic use of intellectual property.

IP has evolved from a legal afterthought into the true Most Valuable Player of modern sports. It drives billions in revenue, safeguards legacies, and fuels innovation. Global sports properties generated a record $174 billion in revenue in 2025, with top IP owners capturing an ever-larger share of the pie. Media rights alone now exceed $60 billion annually in key markets, while sponsorships hover around $52 billion.

As we celebrate World IP Day 2026, themed “IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate,” it is essential to look beyond the trophy cabinet. The true engine of growth in this industry is Intellectual Property (IP). It is the invisible force that transforms an athlete into a global brand, a game into a broadcast event, and a piece of equipment into a patented innovation.

This article explores why IP reigns supreme in sports, breaking down its core forms, emerging challenges, and future playbook.

The Rise of Intellectual Property in Sports

The sports industry initially paid no attention to intellectual property. When sports first became a business, sometime in the late 1800s, the dominant means to derive revenues was to sell tickets. Thus, the legal right that drove profits in sports was an interest in real property. The organiser of a sports event controlled the land, and, using that legal right, the organiser sold fans tickets to be able to come onto the land to watch. When radio came along, the real-property-driven system of profiting from organised sports events did not change.

Originally, games that were broadcast by radio were generally “sustaining broadcasts,” neither the broadcaster nor the organiser paid the other. Beginning in the 1930s, however, organisers, leagues, or home teams began demanding payments from radio networks for the privilege of broadcasting games. The promotional benefit was no longer considered requisite compensation; fees had to be paid to the organiser [i]. Yet even when organisers started looking to telecasters for rights payments, there was no conviction that the organisers should own the resulting sounds and images. The National Football League (NFL) first got into the business of owning intellectual property rights in moving images in the 1960s^[ii].

In Football, at first, IP appeared and advanced the art of ball design and production. Producers around the world innovated by varying the number and shape of the football’s leather panels. Thomlinson secured patents on his football designs during the late 1800s and later marketed the leather quality of his better footballs as “Tugite” to distinguish them from his “T-model.”

Adidas introduced that black and white model, which it christened “Telstar”, evoking the Telstar satellites of the early 1960s as the official ball of the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico.

This tournament was the first World Cup finals to be broadcast worldwide, and the black and white ball became an icon of football in part because it offered better visibility to football fans following matches on television.

Adidas has held the exclusive contractual right to supply official footballs to World Cup competitions ever since. Its current contract with FIFA, the organiser of the World Cup, runs through the 2030 tournament^[iii].

Today, IP generally powers a sophisticated ecosystem encompassing global broadcasting, digital content, player brands, and tech-driven innovations. The shift accelerated with digital transformation and globalisation. Leagues like the NFL, NBA, and English Premier League transformed into media and entertainment powerhouses. IP now underpins franchise valuations, NFL teams routinely top $5–10 billion, fueled largely by protected media and branding assets.

Core Types of Intellectual Property in Modern Sports

Sports IP manifests in several interlocking forms, each critical to value creation:

1. Trademarks: Team names, logos, mascots, slogans, and uniform designs form the emotional core of fan loyalty. Global protection is vital, yet challenges like trademark squatting in international markets persist.
2. Copyrights & Media Rights: Broadcast feeds, highlight reels, photography, video games, and social clips generate massive revenue. The NFL’s domestic media deals alone exceed $12 billion annually, while the Premier League’s 2025 to 2029 cycle is valued at roughly £13.2 billion.
3. Patents: Smart equipment, wearables, performance analytics tools, and even proprietary play systems receive patent protection, giving teams and brands technological edges.
4. Trade Secrets: Playbooks, scouting data, training regimens, and medical analytics remain closely guarded assets, as any leak could significantly erode a team’s competitive advantage. In Formula One, for instance, technical specifications, aerodynamic designs, and proprietary simulation data are treated with the utmost secrecy, often protected by stringent internal protocols and non-disclosure agreements to maintain that critical edge on the track.
5. NIL Rights (Name, Image, and Likeness): Athletes now monetise their name, image, and likeness directly. Post-2021 NCAA changes (and cases like House v. NCAA), college athletes build personal brands, often trademarking nicknames or logos (e.g., “Paige Buckets” or custom marks by players like Spencer Rattler).
6. Professional athletes create empires through endorsements and media ventures.

Why IP Is the Real MVP

Intellectual property serves as the cornerstone of value creation in modern sports, enabling stakeholders to monetise creativity, protect innovations, and build sustainable competitive advantages.

1. Revenue Generation: Licensing, global merchandising, and sponsorships thrive on protected brands. The Jordan Brand, built on Michael Jordan’s likeness and trademarks, generated $7.3 billion in revenue for Nike in 2025 alone, illustrating the enduring power of iconic athlete IP. In Nigeria, stars such as Victor Osimhen and Tobi Amusan have leveraged their image rights and personal brands to secure high-value endorsement deals with companies like Moniepoint, Glo, Flutterwave, and others, generating significant commercial revenue beyond their on-field earnings.
2. Brand Equity and Fan Loyalty: Protected symbols create deep emotional connections. Fans buy into stories, not just games, through official merchandise, digital collectables, and immersive experiences.
3. Talent Retention and Recruitment: Strong IP frameworks empower athletes to build personal wealth via image rights and name, image, and likeness (NIL) opportunities, while leagues and clubs attract top stars who value robust brand protection. Nigerian clubs and the national teams with effective licensing programmes gain a clear edge in signing and retaining talent who seek to commercialise their own brands.
4. Competitive Advantage: IP blocks rivals from diluting value or copying innovations. It directly boosts franchise valuations and attracts institutional investment. In Formula One, for instance, technical specifications, aerodynamic designs, and proprietary simulation data are treated with the utmost secrecy, often protected by stringent internal protocols and non-disclosure agreements to maintain that critical edge on the track.

Also Read: https://oal.law/technology-and-intellectual-property-ip-as-a-tool-for-promoting-innovation-and-sustainability/

Challenges in Sports IP

The digital age has introduced a range of new threats to IP in sports. Piracy, deepfakes, and artificial intelligence pose significant risks, with unauthorised clips, AI-generated content, and deepfakes enabling the misuse of athletes’ likenesses or the fabrication of endorsements. Voice cloning and other forms of synthetic media have intensified concerns around rights of publicity, prompting calls for stronger legal protections.

Enforcing IP rights internationally remains highly challenging. Varying laws across jurisdictions create inconsistencies that complicate global protection efforts and leave rights holders vulnerable to cross-border infringement.

Balancing fan creativity against infringement continues to be a delicate issue, particularly on social media. The boundaries of fair use must be weighed carefully against the need for effective brand control, often leading to disputes over user-generated content.

Data privacy has also become a pressing concern. The collection and use of performance analytics and fan data require careful handling in compliance with evolving regulations to safeguard personal information while supporting commercial activities.

In Africa, these global challenges are compounded by distinct regional obstacles to leveraging sports IP effectively. Many countries face weak enforcement mechanisms, rampant piracy, especially of broadcasting rights and merchandise, and widespread counterfeiting, which erode potential revenue streams for leagues, clubs, and athletes. Legal frameworks are often inadequate or inconsistently applied, with limited institutional coordination, low public awareness of IP’s commercial value, and insufficient specialised expertise within judicial systems. Government dominance in sports administration frequently hinders full commercialisation, discouraging private investment and the development of robust IP strategies. As a result, the sports sector across the continent, despite the popularity of events such as football leagues and the Africa Cup of Nations, struggles to maximise the economic potential of its intellectual assets.

Practical Strategies:

Stakeholders in the sports industry can turn IP challenges into opportunities for sustainable success by adopting strategic, collaborative, and proactive approaches. Leagues and teams, for instance, should focus on building comprehensive IP portfolios that encompass trademarks, copyrights, and broadcasting rights, while enforcing these assets rigorously through dedicated monitoring and legal teams. A key element of this strategy is educating stakeholders,  from athletes and fans to commercial partners, about the value and protection of IP, which is precisely why initiatives such as World IP Day play such a vital role in raising awareness and fostering a culture of respect for these rights. Additionally, exploring co-licensing arrangements with athletes can create mutual benefits, aligning institutional brands with individual star power for enhanced revenue and visibility.

Athletes and their agents must take a forward-thinking stance by trademarking personal brands at the earliest opportunity, negotiating image rights deals, and retaining long-term control over their intellectual assets.

Sponsors and partners can safeguard their investments by structuring agreements with precise IP licensing provisions, including stringent quality controls and clear termination rights. Such contracts not only protect brand integrity but also ensure that collaborative efforts deliver measurable returns while minimising the risk of unauthorised use or dilution.

The Future of Sports IP

Looking ahead, IP will intersect with transformative technologies:

1. AI, VR/AR, and Metaverse: Personalised content, virtual experiences, and immersive fan platforms will demand new ownership models for generated works and digital replicas.
2. Web3 and Fan Economies: Blockchain could enable better tracked licensing and fan tokens, though IP clarity remains essential.
3. Convergence with Entertainment: Leagues acquiring stakes in media platforms or expanding into content studios will blur lines, with athlete-owned IP playing a larger role.

By 2026 and beyond, organisations mastering these intersections while protecting core assets will dominate a hyper-digital, globalised sports market projected to keep expanding.

Conclusion

Intellectual property is far more than legal paperwork; it is the scoreboard that determines long-term winners in sports. From billion-dollar media rights and iconic athlete brands like Jordan to innovative patents. IP creates revenue, loyalty, and edge that outlast any season or career. Athletes, teams, leagues, and brands must treat IP as their star player: register it, nurture it, defend it, and leverage it aggressively. In modern sports, the greatest champions aren’t solely those who dominate on the field; they are the ones who master the game beyond it.

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^[i] Eric C. Covil, “Radio and Its Impact on the Sports World”, AM. SPORTSCASTERS ONLINE, http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/radiohistory.html (last visited Apr. 13, 2026).

^[ii]Eric E. Johnson, “The NFL, Intellectual Property, And The Conquest Of Sports Media”, 86 N.D. L. Rev. 759 (2010).

^[iii]Michael J. Madison, “ A History of Intellectual Property in 50 Objects” at Cambridge University Press. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Madison/publication/333904465_Football/links/5f12f6474585151299a4c055/Football.pdf (last visited Apr. 13, 2026).