Company
Off Court is a player-owned social media platform built exclusively for basketball. Founded by a group of NBA players and entrepreneurs, the company was built on a simple insight: athletes drive culture on social media, but the engagement, monetization, and data all flow to the platforms, not the players. Off Court flips that model, combining elements of Instagram, YouTube, Patreon, and Snapchat into a basketball-only hub where players can drop merch, run subscriptions, post exclusive content, and share podcasts and day-in-the-life vlogs. Players own equity in the platform, monetize their content directly, and control their own brand. Launched on iOS in October 2025, the app is already expanding to WNBA athletes and has ambitions well beyond basketball.
Challenge
Bringing a new platform to market is one challenge. Getting the founding athletes to sign on the dotted line is another. Negotiating with NBA players means working through layers of agents, managers, and personal counsel, each with their own priorities and protections. With multiple founders at the table simultaneously, the challenge wasn’t just reaching agreement with any one athlete. it was ensuring the equity structure, content rights, and platform terms were fair and consistent across the entire group. Every party needed a deal that reflected their contribution, with no single founder walking away with an outsized advantage over the others.
Solution
Westaway approached the engagement the way we approach every complex, multi-party deal. by starting with the structure before diving into the terms. We worked closely with the Off Court team to map out the full range of founder relationships, identify where interests aligned and where friction could emerge, and build a legal framework that could hold up across all parties simultaneously. Rather than negotiating each athlete’s terms in isolation, we developed a consistent, equity-based structure that was transparent and replicable, so every founder could see exactly how the deal worked and where they stood.
Impact
Off Court launched with its founding athletes signed, aligned, and ready to build. The platform went live without the delays or disputes that so often derail multi-party startup deals. More importantly, every founder entered as a true owner, not just a spokesperson. For Westaway, it was a demonstration of what founder-friendly legal work looks like in practice. not just protecting our clients, but helping them move fast, stay fair, and build something that lasts.
