Top Rank receives Presidential Sports Exemption Status

Top Rank retained Sherrod Sports Visas to apply for a Sports National Interest Waiver and is now included as an Exempt Organization from Presidential Proclamations 9984, 9992, 9993, and 9996.

Top Rank, Inc. is one of the world’s largest professional boxing promotional companies.  It has promoted some of the best boxers in history, including Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and many others.  Top Rank has continued that proud tradition in spite of the ongoing global pandemic by hosting professional boxing events in a “Bubble” environment located at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.  Top Rank’s events began airing on ESPN on June 9−well before other professional sports organizations resumed activities−and have continued successfully throughout the summer and into the fall.  Top Rank has taken every precaution to ensure that its events are held safely, with limited individuals in attendance, and has worked closely with the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the Government of Nevada to ensure that proper safety measures are maintained.

Top Rank’s deep and talented boxing roster is made up of both United States-based and international stars. To be able to exhibit fights featuring its entire roster to deliver the best possible product for its millions of boxing fans, we Top Rank applied for and was approved to be an exempt sports organization with the White House Administration, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). 

In early 2020, the DHS made a decision to suspend travel from several countries that are considered high risk for COVID-19 health issues. The travel ban includes the following countries: China, Iran, European Schengen area (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City), United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland), Republic of Ireland, and Brazil. 

Per the executive order signed by Acting Secretary Chad Wolf of the DHS signed on May 22, 2020, certain sports leagues have received an exemption and are now able to bring professional athletes and their essential support staff from these COVID-19 designated countries into the United States. 

Initially, the executive order provided the exemption only to the National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, United States Tennis Association, Professional Golfers Association, and a few other mainstream sports.

However, recently we at Sherrod Sports Visas received a direct contact, through months of negotiations with our Senator’s office, to make applications for National Interest for Sports Leagues and Organizations to be added to this list held at the White House. This list serves two important purposes for sports organizations and event promoters to get athletes, coaches, and dependents into the United States:

• Foreign nationals on this list will have priority to request emergency interviews at consulate offices for a visa even at consulates that are completely closed on certain occasions.

• Foreign nationals on this list will be exempt from all Customs and Border Control units on attempting entry into the United States. 

We were thus able to petition the DHS and CBP to get an exemption for Top Rank Inc., who can now get athletes from these COVID-19 banned countries, and their families and essential staff into the United States. These persons, promoted by Top Rank Inc., would be included on a list provided by the White House to all the Consulates. 

What this does is that it allows the people on the list to get expedited appointments and Consular National Interest Exemptions. Through this process we were able to help Top Rank Inc., avoid the otherwise long process which involves presentations being made to both the Consular Post and the CBP. CBP can say that individual arguments for National Interest Exemptions are not permitted for organizations on the National Interest Exemption list. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. 

We were able to highlight the fact that the original National Interest Exemption recognizes that professional sports organizations like Top Rank are critical to the economic recovery of the country and to the national interest of the United States. Our application included an extensive argument on the following factors along with detailed supporting evidence. The factors we argued came directly from the language in the original Presidential Exemption: 

• Sports sector is important to recommence the economy

• Events with limited attendance and other public safety measures

• Providing powerful first- and second-order benefits to national economy through advertising, broadcast, hospitality, food serve, and commercial cleaning

• Situated to present events in a safe and controlled environment

• Provide intangible benefits to the national interest, including civic pride and national unity

If you are interested in applying for the Sports National Exemption Waiver, please contact our office at 310-209-8454 or email us at info@oaklg.com

For individual athletes, please visit this page to seek assistance with consular or border patrol issues https://www.sherrodsportsvisas.com/sports-travel-ban-exemption