Fortus
The focus of Fortus is to provide sound commercial and legal advice to clients in the sports and media sectors within the framework of a reliable and trustworthy collaboration. Fortus is, actually, me, Raj Koria. I have worked as a commercial sports lawyer since 2003. I spent eight years in-house at leading industry organisations where I was involved in the inner workings of those businesses on a commercial level every bit as much as I was on a legal level. This is the foundation of my approach to providing legal advice: practical, commercial and based on a real world understanding of the industry. Since 2012 I have consulted for various clients in sports, media and entertainment such as rights holders, broadcasters, and commercial partners, enabling me to use my in-house foundation to provide a different kind of legal service, effectively as an external in-house lawyer. The culmination of all this experience is Fortus.
Raj
Sport has always been central to my life—both as a participant (primarily hockey and squash) and as a lifelong follower. While completing my law degree at King’s College London, I discovered a postgraduate course in sports law, which proved to be the natural next step. I undertook the course alongside training at a central London law firm, where I was soon invited to take responsibility for the firm’s growing portfolio of sports clients.
That combination of legal training and hands-on sports work opened the door to FIFA, where I spent six years in the commercial legal team working across all aspects of the organisation of the FIFA World Cup and FIFA’s other major competitions. My work focused in particular on FIFA’s commercial programme, including merchandising, ticketing, hospitality, and sponsorship, before I went on to lead the legal work on broadcast rights as Deputy Head of FIFA Commercial Legal.
Following the 2010 FIFA World Cup, I joined SPORTFIVE International, where I led the legal work on the European broadcast rights sales for the Olympics in Rio and the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Alongside this, I worked on a range of other major rights projects, including UEFA Euro 2012.
After leaving SPORTFIVE in 2012, I continued to work with the business for a further four years as a consultant through to the conclusion of the Olympic projects. My consultancy practice operated under the umbrella of Halebury, a pioneering law firm created specifically for senior independent consultants. During my time there, I advised a wide range of high-profile clients across sport, media, and entertainment, was recommended in The Legal 500 for Sports over several consecutive years, published articles on sports and media law, and delivered professional development training for Central Law Training.
In April 2020, I founded Fortus to provide senior-level legal and commercial support to sports organisations navigating complex rights, media, and regulatory environments.
Why Fortus
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Personal Service – Over the last 23 years I have worked on everything from the biggest sports events on the planet to newest, most niche events, so when you instruct Fortus you get the benefit of all that knowledge and experience.
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Commercial – Having spent my career firstly in industry and then effectively as an external in-house counsel, I understand what is important for your organisation and what will be the key issues for anyone across the negotiating table. I aim to work in a way that does not get you bogged down in technicalities or unnecessary discussions but rather works towards your goals in a clear and logical way.
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Flexible – I want to support you in the way that works best for you. Do you need ad hoc advice? An extra pair of hands during a busy period? Somebody to come on board for a particular project? Someone who will work with various offices across different time zones? Someone to coordinate, and even manage, a project? Whatever your needs, my aim is to be as flexible and available as possible. Let’s have a chat about what you need.
Services
Fortus provides strategic and commercial legal advice in relation to the sale, acquisition and exploitation of sports commercial rights and general audio-visual content.
Sport
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Broadcast – advising on dealing with audio-visual rights to sports events; preparing tenders for the sale of rights; advising on bidding for the acquisition of broadcast rights; drafting and negotiating broadcast contracts for both broadcasters and rights owners; advising on host broadcast documents including all agreements related to production of the broadcast.
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Sponsorship – drafting and negotiating sponsorship contracts for both sponsors and rights owners; advising on structures and packages of sponsorship for sports events and teams; advising on rights exploitation.
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Merchandising – advising on different types of merchandising related to sports events; advising on master licensee relationship; drafting and negotiating licensing agreements; advising on related processes.
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Hospitality – preparing tender documents; drafting and negotiating hospitality services provider agreements.
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Ticketing and Accreditation – preparing terms and conditions of use; preparing tenders and drafting and negotiating contracts with related service providers.
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Commercial Regulations – advising on commercial guidelines for different
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stakeholders in sports competitions.
Media
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Drafting and negotiating contracts for the sale, acquisition and production of audio-visual content beyond sports.
Experience
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Advising Saudi Arabia’s top tier men’s football competitions, including the Saudi Pro League, on the broadcast production and media rights sales for its current seasons.
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Advised Swiss and Norwegian Ski associations on agreements with FIS for centralising international media rights distribution for the FIS World Cup and also on various other commercial agreements. [Sportcal article on the FIS centralisation project]
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Have worked on the broadcast production and global media rights sales of the America’s Cup since 2020.
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Supported the inhouse legal teams of various clients, including TEAM Marketing (on UEFA Champions League), Football Australia, the ICC and Breitling.
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Supported the Saudi Sports Channel on sports content acquisition agreements and other commercial contracts since it was formed.
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Advising the Saudi Organising Committee for the 2034 Asian Games Riyadh and Asian Para Games Riyadh on its rights and obligations under both organising agreements.
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Advise the Japanese sports agency Dentsu Inc. on commercial rights sales contracts for CONMEBOL national football team competitions. Advised Dentsu on the media rights sales for the FIFA Club World Cup.
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Represented the European Broadcasting Union in the joint acquisition (with Warner Bros. Discovery) of the European media rights to all summer and winter Olympic games from 2026 to 2032. [Sportspro article on the Olympics deal]
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Advised travel services brand Kayak on its sponsorship of a Premier League football club.
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Work on the media rights sales contracts for World Athletics events.
Client Testimonials
“We have known and worked with Raj for many years however he will always be loved and appreciated at the EBU for his incredible work on our Olympics agreement with the IOC. It was a very intense period with a lot of time and financial pressure.
Raj was stellar in what he brought, always calm, precise, diligent and professional. Unflappable under pressure and totally committed to getting the job done along with the in-house EBU negotiations team. He went well beyond what was expected.”
- Glen Killane, Executive Director, EBU Sport
"...unflappable under pressure..."
"...strong drafting and negotiation skills..."
“Raj has been a valued advisor to SWISS-SKI for a number of years. In particular, he played an important role in our successful negotiation of a complex agreement to centralise media and broadcast rights for FIS World Cup events, involving multiple national federations and FIS.
His strong drafting and negotiation skills, together with a thorough understanding of sports rights and the broadcast landscape, were critical in navigating a challenging process with many stakeholders and competing interests.
We greatly valued his expertise, judgement, and collaborative approach.”
- Diego Züger, Co-CEO, SWISS-SKI
"Our sports marketing agency has regularly sought Raj’s legal advice on sports commercial matters not only because he is a very skilled, knowledgeable and fast-reacting lawyer, but also because of the pertinence of his opinion in sports-related matters. Thanks to his great understanding of the sports industry, Raj’s legal advice always takes into consideration the various business and practical implications which ensures they fit for practical purpose in our business and as a result are of significant value to us."
- Managing Partner, Omnia Sports AG
"...great understanding of the sports industry..."
"...commercial and pragmatic attitude..."
"I've worked with Raj on two long-running client projects. He's an excellent lawyer who advises, drafts and negotiates with a commercial and pragmatic attitude, and who can be relied upon to get a good deal done on time. Raj builds strong relationships and is well respected and highly regarded by his peers."
- Stephen Nuttall, Media and Sports Industry Consultant
"Raj has provided excellent legal support on various projects including the FIFA Club World Cup, Copa America and other media rights projects of Dentsu. His services included drafting commercial agreements between the client and the rightsholder/Dentsu as well as providing legal advice on all matters related to commercial rights of the sporting world.
Through his experience working for rightsholders, agencies and others, Raj possesses extensive knowledge of all commercial matters around sports rights from media rights, sponsorship rights, Licensing and others. It is also important to point out that through his work, he is very well updated and his knowledge covers emerging technologies as well.
Raj’s strength is that he provides legal advice at the highest quality but is also able to inform us where the legal line ends and a commercial decision is needed from here onwards. This is possible because he also is aware of the importance of making commercial decisions without jeopardising the legal position. Lawyers who are able to give such advice are very special and rare, which make us believe that he is one of the best in the industry."
- Jumpei Hashimoto, General Manager, International Sports, Dentsu
