Read it before signature
The grant, the category, the territory, the term and the exit, assessed against what the sponsor actually wants out of the deal.
Sport
Sponsorship and endorsement.
A sponsorship agreement sells an association, and an association is harder to define than a logo on a shirt. The disputes are almost never about whether the money was paid. They are about what exactly was bought, in which category, where, for how long, and what happens when one side becomes something the other would rather not be seen beside.
What this looks like when it goes wrong
Category exclusivity is the most common. A sponsor is told it is the exclusive partner in a category described by a marketing phrase rather than by a list of products. The rights holder later signs somebody it regards as sitting in a different category. The sponsor disagrees. Both positions are arguable, because the word was chosen quickly and never defined.
The second is what was actually delivered. A sponsor bought exposure, appearances, hospitality, content and the participation of particular people. Then somebody is injured, a team is relegated, a competition changes format, a fixture is played without a crowd, or a season is simply not the season that was sold. Agreements are frequently silent on what happens when the property changes shape.
The third is a brand that never signed anything. A campaign is timed to an event, uses its colours, its city, its dates and its vocabulary, and never touches a protected mark. Official sponsors ask what they paid for. Some of that activity is unlawful and some of it is competent marketing, and the line between them is narrower than either side would like.
The fourth is a deal ending badly. An incident away from the sport, an old post resurfacing, a charge, a move to another club, or a sponsor whose own conduct becomes the problem. The clause everybody signed without reading is now the only thing that matters, and it usually turns on somebody's opinion rather than on a fact.
What actually decides it
The grant. Which properties, which marks, which categories, which territories, which channels, for what term, and what happens at the end of it. Renewal and matching rights matter more than they look, because they decide whether a rights holder can go to the market freely and what it must show the incumbent first. The same part of the agreement decides what survives an ending: stock already manufactured, campaigns already booked, content already published, and whether either side may say the association ever existed.
How exclusivity is defined and how it is policed. Exclusivity is worth having only where the category is described by reference to products and channels rather than by a slogan, and only where the rights holder knows what it has already granted elsewhere. Sponsorship portfolios accumulate over years, and most conflicts are created by an earlier agreement nobody reread before signing the new one.
Morality and termination provisions. What matters is whether the trigger is objective, such as a conviction or a charge, or a matter of judgement, such as conduct bringing a sponsor into disrepute in somebody's reasonable opinion. Who forms that opinion, what the consequence is, whether it is termination or suspension or something less, and whether the clause runs in both directions, are all settled at drafting and rarely revisited. Terminating without a proper trigger is itself a breach, and an exit taken too quickly can turn the party in the right into the party in the wrong.
Ambush is decided on ordinary grounds unless something specific applies to the particular event. Ordinarily the question is trade mark infringement, passing off, or the advertising rules against misleading the public about a commercial relationship. Particular major events have from time to time been given specific statutory protection, which is event specific and limited in time, so whether anything of that kind applies has to be checked for the event in question rather than assumed.
What we do
Define the category properly
Exclusivity written by reference to products and channels, so the next deal does not create a conflict with this one.
Reconcile a portfolio
Existing sponsorship agreements read against each other, so clashes are found before a sponsor finds them.
Manage an exit
A termination handled so that the party ending the deal is still the party in the right when it is over.
Assess an ambush campaign
A clear read on whether an unofficial campaign is actionable, and whether acting improves the position or worsens it.
Deal with unauthorised association
Businesses claiming an official relationship they do not have, addressed quickly and without publicity.
When to spend nothing
A campaign that gestures at an event without using anything protected is frequently best ignored. Complaining is the surest way to give it the audience it was hoping for, and an official sponsor objecting publicly to a rival's cleverness rarely reads well. Where nobody is confused about who the sponsors are, the commercial harm is difficult to describe and harder to recover.
Where a difficult deal is close to its end, negotiating the exit is almost always cheaper than proving a breach. Termination for cause requires evidence, invites a counterclaim, and puts the reason into a document both sides will eventually be asked about. Letting a term run out quietly costs less and says less.
Before anything is sent
Positions harden the moment the other side takes advice, and the quiet routes stop being available once a demand has gone out. While nothing has been sent, everything is still open.