Christian Dennie is a sports lawyer, mediator, and arbitrator with significant experience in professional, college, and Olympic sports. He is the Managing Member of Dennie Sports Law and the President and Chairman of the nonprofit Leadoff Project. He has worked with professional leagues and teams, colleges and universities, college conferences, governing bodies, coaches, and athletes in more than 35 different sports. He serves his clients in litigation, transactional matters, and investigations and is also a sought-after mediator and arbitrator in the sports industry. In addition to his day job, Christian is an adjunct professor of sports law at Texas A&M University School of Law and Southern Methodist University. For his work, he has been recognized as a “top attorney” (or similar designation) by Super Lawyers, Fort Worth, Texas Magazine, 360 West Magazine, Corp Today Magazine, Acquisition International, Expertise, Wealth & Finance International, and others. Christian received his B.B.A. from Sam Houston State University where he was the centerfielder on the baseball team and his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
In this Q&A, Dennie discusses his experience in sports-oriented disputes.
Q: What is your background in sports-related disputes?
Dennie: For more than 20 years, I have served as legal counsel for professional leagues and teams, colleges and universities, college conferences, governing bodies, coaches, and athletes in more than 35 different sports. These matters include complex litigation, transactions, and investigations involving media rights agreements and programming, labor and employment matters, executive contracts, sponsorship agreements, collective bargaining, name, image, and likeness (NIL) and revenue sharing agreements, licensing, intellectual property protection, Title IX, NCAA investigations and compliance, risk and mitigation strategies, constitutions and bylaws, grant of rights, bowl and conference championships, advising boards and executive committees, facilities agreements, investigations, conference realignment, drug testing and anti-doping, and complex litigation and arbitration. I have also served as outside general counsel for multiple clients in the sports and entertainment industry, including a sports agency, media company, union of professional sports officials, Division I and II conferences, professional sports leagues, and many others.
Q: What kinds of matters do you most often see as an arbitrator or mediator in the sports industry?
Dennie: As an arbitrator and mediator, I serve as a neutral in disputes that have included Olympic and Paralympic participation matters, grievances and disciplinary matters, sponsorship disputes, employment terminations of sports executives and coaches, team and league disputes, agency disputes between agents and athletes, player and team disputes, and revenue share and NIL disputes.
Q: What drew you to ADR work in this space, and what do you find most rewarding about serving on the AAA’s Sports Conflicts Panel?
Dennie: Working in sports was always my goal. As my career progressed and I was given the opportunity to work in ADR, it gave me a different viewpoint and the opportunity to resolve (in mediation) and hear (in arbitration) interesting sports disputes and to work with high-level attorneys representing the interests of teams, leagues, governing bodies, coaches, athletes, and sponsors. Serving on AAA’s Sports Conflicts Panel allows me to serve with the top arbitration provider and with the top arbitrators in sports.
Q: What advice would you give parties preparing for arbitration or mediation in complex sports disputes?
Dennie: The benefit of presenting disputes, in both mediation and arbitration, to AAA’s Sports Conflicts Panel is the neutrals are well-versed in the sports industry. I suggest presenting a tailored presentation that takes into account the significant knowledge base of the neutrals. Knowing the facts and legal arguments is very important to being ready for questions presented by the neutrals.