Sport360 is operated by its 2 founding principals, Darren Bailey and Nic Couchman, alongside a team of experts and associates across many domains in sport.
DARREN BAILEY
Co-Founder of Sport360 Consulting
Consultant with the sports group at Charles Russell Speechlys since 2018
Partner and Head of Governance at a leading sports law firm acting for a range of clients including international federations, premier league clubs and major events.
Director of Legal and Legislative Affairs at the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby) and Rugby World Cup
Director of Football Governance and Regulation at the FA responsible for managing a team of 75 sports personnel and leading in areas such as discipline, anti-doping, integrity, financial regulation, legal, refereeing, competitions, professional game services, player status issues and on field and off field regulatory matters
Chief Regulatory Officer of the Football Regulatory Authority
Director of The Professional Game Match Officials Ltd the company that oversees elite professional refereeing
Chair of the Expert Group on Good Governance established by the European Commission responsible for identifying the 10 Principles of Good Governance for Sports Bodies
Co-chair of the UK Sports Betting Integrity Forum
Editor of Sports Law Journal Sports Law Administration and practice for 20 years
Biography
Darren has worked exclusively in sport for over twenty five years. He has a passion for all sports, but particularly football having joined Chelsea as a fourteen year old before going on to qualify as a football coach and sports lawyer.
During his spell in private practice with specialist sports law firm Townleys he headed up the commercial and sports Governance team before taking on the role of managing partner. Darren represented a range of sports clients , including national, European and international federations, major events, football clubs and players and was involved in a number of watershed court and CAS cases in the area of anti-doping.
In 2001 he was appointed as the first legal director of the International Rugby Board in Dublin (now World Rugby) having been responsible for re-writing the entire regulatory framework of the sport when the game went professional. Whilst in the role he oversaw all of the legal work on the 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cups and also assumed responsibility for legislative affairs.
Darren subsequently joined The English FA in 2009 as the Director of Football Governance and Regulation. At the FA , he variously managed and led the regulatory, anti-doping, integrity disciplinary, refereeing and professional game service functions and was a director of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL).
He also oversaw the player status department dealing with transfers, agents and registration processes, FA competitions (including the FA Cup) and was involved in the ongoing video technology discussions with IFAB.
Over recent years, Darren followed up his membership of the Sports Betting Integrity Panel to act as Co-Chair of the UK Sports Betting Integrity Forum (which is the National Platform for the fight against betting related corruption in the UK) . He was also Chair of the EU Expert Group on Good Governance in Sport which established the 10 principles on Good Governance for sports bodies.
Darren edited the international sports law journal Sports Law Administration and Practice for 20 years.
NIC COUCHMAN
Co-founder of Sport360 Consulting
Founder and chairman of Couchmans LLP, leading UK sports law firm
Head of Sport at Charles Russell Speechlys (CRS)
Nic and his team have been at the forefront of developments in the evolution of commercial rights for 25 years; media, sponsorship, merchandising, brand, IP, ticketing, image rights, data and betting rights, and now "social media rights"
CRS/Couchmans LLP clients have included leading sports governing bodies, leagues, clubs, athletes, sponsor brands and many other organisations and businesses in international sport
Co founder of Sports Investment Partners, chaired by Sir Martin Broughton
Biography
Nic is a specialist sports business lawyer, advisor and investor, and a well-known figure in the UK sports business. Founder and Chairman of Couchmans LLP, he has extensive experience in developing and implementing commercial rights programmes for a large number of sports and advising sports investors, sponsors and sports businesses. Nic founded Couchmans LLP in 2001 having been a partner previously at Townleys since 1990. Couchmans sports team merged with international law firm, Charles Russell Speechlys (CRS) in 2018, with Nic acting as Head of Sport at CRS.
Nic was named as one of the world’s twenty most influential sports lawyers by Sport Business magazine, and featured in The Times “Top Ten Sports Lawyers” list. Nic is on the steering group of Sport Relief.
Nic's clients have included the International Olympic Committee, Formula 1 Management, Rugby World Cups 1991/1995/1999/2003, Ascot Authority, Six Nations, European Rugby Cup, International Tennis Federation, England and Wales Cricket Board; Premier Rugby, Poland 2012, British Champions Series, Volvo Ocean Race, Nova International, World Match Racing Tour; the International Rowing Federation (FISA) Aviva, BT, Carlsberg, Coca-Cola, Haymarket Publishing, Heineken, Nationwide Building Society, Nike, Nokia, News International, Panasonic, Rio Tinto, UK Sport, as well as various players and athletes (such as Marcus Rashford) and player associations such as World Pro Surfers.
Nic was a co-founding partner in sports specialist investment firm, Sports Investment Partners, chaired by Sir Martin Broughton, and investor in sports, fitness, health technology and lifestyle businesses.
Our roster of Sport360 experts includes individuals from:
• Brand Strategy
• Commercial Rights Strategy
• Crisis PR
• Data Protection
• Disciplinary
• Due Diligence
• E-sports and VR
• FAN Engagement
• HR and recruitment
• Integrity and Betting
• Intellectual Property
• Investigations
• Investment and corporate finance
• Media rights audit
• Procurement
• Regulatory
• Social Media
• Sports and FITNESS Technologies
• Venues and Facilities
• Women’s sport
We would welcome the opportunity to present our offering to you in more detail.
Please contact us for more information