The Bay Area Host Committee (BAHC) was founded on a simple but ambitious idea: unite the region through sport. Hosting Super Bowl LX was the first major opportunity to put that organizing principle to work. Nine counties. Dozens of public agencies. And a vision to activate not just the game day stadium but iconic venues across the entire Bay Area.
BAHC retained Nixon Peabody as its exclusive outside counsel in early 2023, well before its bid to host the Super Bowl was awarded. What followed was a multi-year effort to build something that doesn't come with a template: a legal and operational framework capable of uniting professional sports stakeholders, public agencies, global sponsors, and community partners. The goal was to bring a region-wide celebration to football fans and Bay Area residents alike.
Legal framework for sports sponsorship and venues
An event of this scale requires more than enthusiasm; it requires structure and buy-in from partners across the region.
Nixon Peabody’s Sports & Stadium team helped BAHC develop the legal architecture for a sponsorship and hospitality program that could generate the resources needed to translate its bold vision into action. This meant structuring revenue agreements, identifying sponsorship assets, and crafting a fundraising approach that communicated to potential partners why an event of this magnitude mattered for the Bay Area.
With that foundation in place, the work expanded. Transportation agencies, safety officials, venue operators, and service providers all needed to be brought into alignment. Nixon Peabody tackled agreements spanning open spaces, civic buildings, waterfront venues, and transit hubs, each with its own stakeholders, requirements, and timelines. The firm also negotiated, along with the San Francisco 49ers, the fundamental agreement that permitted the Super Bowl to take place at Levi’s Stadium.
Coordinating venues and stakeholders across the Bay Area
By Super Bowl week, years of behind-the-scenes coordination became visible across the Bay Area. A projection display transformed San Francisco’s Ferry Building. First-class live performances filled venues throughout the region, including the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Residents who never set foot in Levi's Stadium could still experience the energy of the event at fan zones throughout the Bay Area. A first-of-its-kind Innovation Summit brought together leaders across sport, technology, entertainment, and culture to explore how fans will interact with and consumer sports in the future.
That activation—touching all nine Bay Area counties and making Super Bowl week region-wide rather than stadium-centric—was the endgame from the start. Reaching it required not just legal acumen, but the kind of sustained collaboration that keeps dozens of stakeholders aligned over months and years.
Sports law counsel for mega events and positive impact
The game is over, but the work continues. Community investments funded by the BAHC Foundation, including new football fields and park improvements, will continue far beyond the celebrations and benefit Bay Area residents for many years to come. And the relationships BAHC has built with Bay Area business leaders, civic partners, and sports organizations are a playbook for future efforts to rally the community through similarly high-profile sporting events.
For Nixon Peabody, this engagement reflects the Sports & Stadiums team’s commitment to guiding clients through high-stakes environments, where leagues, public and private sector leaders, teams, and corporate partners must align around shared goals. It is cutting-edge, strategic, work that makes events like Super Bowl LX possible.
Reflections from the Bay Area Host Committee
"From day one, Nixon Peabody understood that Super Bowl LX wasn't just about a game at Levi's Stadium — it was about uniting the entire Bay Area around a shared vision. Their Sports & Stadiums team brought not only exceptional legal expertise, but a genuine commitment to collaborative problem-solving that kept nine counties, dozens of public agencies, global sponsors, and community partners aligned through years of complex negotiations.
They structured the sponsorships, negotiated the critical agreements, coordinated stakeholders across iconic venues, and helped us create something unprecedented — a region-wide Super Bowl celebration. But perhaps most importantly, they've built a legal and operational playbook that will serve Bay Area communities and future major sporting events for years to come. We couldn't have brought this vision to life without Nixon Peabody's invaluable partnership."
— Zaileen Janmohamed, President and CEO of the Bay Area Host Committee
