Representative Experience
- Football
- Represented an NFL franchise and owner family since 2003 in the following matters:
- Estate planning, business succession planning and ownership structure, including compliance with league requirements.
- Stadium construction and permanent financing for the client’s contributions to public/private partnership.
- Participation in league-wide credit facilities.
- Represented the predecessor to Capital One in negotiation of a naming rights agreement with the University of Maryland football field.
- Obtained dismissal of a tortious conduct and breach of contract claim in favor of a well-known sports agent in front of an arbitrator appointed by the NFL Players Association.
- Advised professional football team on player grievance arbitration.
- Represented an NFL franchise in connection with various issues relating to food and beverage service at the stadium, primarily labeling requirements on menu boards, analyzing the legality of selling packages consisting of tickets and alcoholic beverages, and various aspects of their concessionaire agreements.
- Represented Gordon Pointe Acquisition Corp. on its acquisition of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Village.
- Represented Allen & Co (as financial advisor) with a fairness opinion in connection with the sale of the Carolina Panthers to David Tepper.
- Represented Easton-Bell Sports and its subsidiary, Riddell, in securing product liability insurance coverage related to a lawsuit by 75 former NFL football players, which alleged a wide variety of brain and concussion-related injuries spanning more than 30 years.
- Soccer
- Represented Chelsea Football Club in its £4.25 billion acquisition by a consortium led by Todd Boehly, chairman and CEO of Eldridge, a private investment company, and Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. This deal was honored as Private Equity Deal of the Year by The Deal, M&A Team of the Year by Law.com, and Impact Deal of the Year by International Tax Review.
- Counseled the Qatar Local Organizing Committee for the FIFA World Cup 2022 as its interim general counsel, handling all legal matters on behalf of the host country, including:
- A full IP audit, including providing a full five-year plan on trademark registration and IP protection;
- All the regulations and laws in the state of Qatar; and
- The successful bid in 2010.
- Represented a former Central American FIFA soccer officer in a widely publicized international DOJ investigation involving allegations of cross-border money laundering and fraud related to the sale of television and other media rights for World Cup soccer matches in Central America.
- Advised on television sports acquisition agreements, including agreements with FIFA related to the World Cup.
- Represented Qatar Foundation and later Qatar Airways in a five-year sponsorship deal of FC Barcelona.
- Advised the UAE’s main professional soccer league in licensing its television rights, including the preparation and tender of all sponsorship and licensing rights associated with the league’s matches and images.
- Advised a major UAE football club in the naming rights for their newly established state of the art stadium.
- Advised HNW private investors in the potential purchase of a significant equity stake in the Sacramento Republic in connection with their MLS expansion plans.
- Represented the family office of fashion entrepreneur Adam Freede in its investment in a minority stake of MLS franchise, LAFC.
- Baseball
- Serve as primary outside counsel to an MLB franchise for over 15 years in a wide range of matters.
- Represented MLB team in ownership structuring, capital structuring, acquisitions and dispositions, and change-in-control transactions.
- Represented MLB in disposition of minor league baseball team.
- Represented MLB team in negotiating credit facilities, including league-wide credit facilities.
- Represented MLB team in a variety of major contracts and ventures.
- Represented MLB team in executive employment and professional service matters.
- Represented MLB team in licensing matters, including trademark matters and alcohol beverage licensing matters.
- Represented MLB team in strategic joint venture agreements.
- Represented MLB and various teams on SAFETY Act/liability protection issues.
- Worked closely with a professional sports league to develop stadium security guidelines—sections of which have been adopted by DHS as a best practice for sports venues.
- Represented the sellers in the sale of two MLB teams.
- Represented Allen & Co. in front of the FCC in connection with a dispute between the Baltimore Orioles and Comcast.
- Assisted in the negotiation and drafting of design-build contracts between a major city and the city’s ballpark building association joint venture for the construction of the home of an MLB franchise.
- Served as underwriters’ counsel to Robert W. Baird & Co. and Wells Fargo Securities in connection with municipal bonds issues to finance a stadium, minor league baseball team and entertainment complex for the City of High Point, N.C.
- Advised Japanese baseball team “Yokohama Baystars” on trademark protection issues.
- Represented general contractor of the Philadelphia Phillies stadium in the resolution of subcontractor claims for delay, disruption and extra work.
- Represented a construction company in connection with various construction issues for Nationals Park.
- Basketball
- Achieved a significant victory on behalf of clients, the University of Kansas and head men’s basketball coach Bill Self. Following a years-long investigation, the NCAA’s Independent Resolution Panel concluded that allegations of severe NCAA rules violations against the University of Kansas and its men’s basketball program were without merit, and in regard to head men’s basketball coach Bill Self, only a single, Level 3 violation was supported by the record, which afforded no additional penalties beyond those self-imposed by the university, which the IRP also accepted.
- Represented the buyer of a minority stake in an NBA team.
- Counseled on various music licensing, enforcement issues, music owners’ rights for music played at games.
- Represented the National Basketball Players Association in negotiations to resolve directors’ and officers’ insurance claims with its key insurer.
- Represented a sports and entertainment financing company in its efforts to recover on a loan it made to acquire the sports agency business formerly owned by Aaron and Eric Goodwin.
- Motorsport
- Represented the vice-president of a leading NASCAR marketing and memorabilia company in connection with a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.
- Represented a venture capital investor in Monster Trucks entity, advising on television deals, demonstration shows, speaker releases and transition of show/entertainment platform to a competition platform.
- Counseled Apex Circuit Design in the negotiation of an agreement with the FIA Institute, by which Apex was appointed as the Institute’s partner for the Facilities Improvement Programme.
- Represented South American Sports Cars Ltda., a joint venture partner of TVR Cars, in negotiations for a potential purchase of the company.
- Represented a Japanese corporate on the potential sponsorship of the Super Aguri Formula 1 racing team.
- Ice Hockey
- Represented the owners of an International Hockey League team in matters including agreements with the league, stadium and part-owners when they migrated to Canada, etc.
- Represented several purchasers of minority interests in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals and the Verizon Center.
- Represented a professional ice hockey team in a variety of regulatory, finance and consumer issues, including the implementation of a gift card program.
- SportsTech
- Represented Golf+, a VR golf platform, with a vision of letting users virtually play any course from their living room, in its $6M Series Seed funding round. Led by Breyer Capital, investors included Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, Mike Trout and Ben Crenshaw. These individuals recognize that GOLF+ has created a new pathway to enjoy the sport that is appealing to players of all levels, and an onramp to grow the game globally.
- Represented Verance Capital in its $10 million growth round with Swag Golf, the leading premium, limited-edition golf accessory, equipment and apparel company. Verance Capital is a prominent New York-based growth investment firm focused on sports and entertainment. Additional participants in the financing included leaders across the sports ecosystem, such as the San Francisco 49ers’ affiliated fund Aurum Partners, three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White, two-time NBA All-Star Zach LaVine, founder of Heights, LLC, Alex Cohen, Howard Lindzon and former CEO of Libra Solutions Greg Zeeman, among others.
- Represented SponsorUnited, the leading global sports and entertainment intelligence platform tracking 1.1 million sponsorships and endorsements for 250,000 brands and properties across sports, media, music and entertainment, in its $35 million Series A funding round led by Spectrum Equity. Paired with previous investments from Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry and San Diego Padres co-owner Ron Fowler, the infusion brings the startup’s total raised to $38.6 million and a post-money valuation “north of” $100 million. The funding will be used to continue to accelerate SponsorUnited’s innovation and build upon the company's category-leading insights and technology, meeting surging demand for greater intelligence in marketing partnerships.
- Advised DirectAthletics, a leading provider of event and data management technology for timed sports, in its acquisition by FloSports, an international subscription video streaming service dedicated to sports.
- Represented Project Admission, a sports ticketing technology platform, in the raising of a $5.5M seed funding round led by a venture capital firm that invests in financial technology startups.
- Represented Meridix, an innovative video streaming platform with the industry’s most flexible technology, in its acquisition by Stack Sports, a global leader in modern sports technology.
- Advised Acushnet Holdings Corp. in its acquisition an 80% interest in certain assets and liabilities of TPI EDU, LLC, OnBase University, LP and RacquetFit, LP (together known as “TPI”) for cash consideration of $18.4 million. TPI is a leading supplier of online courses, certifications, educational programs, live seminars and other educational services in the golf, baseball and tennis industries.
- Advised Movella, a full-stack provider of sensors, software and analytics that enable the digitization of movement in $537 million business combination with Pathfinder Acquisition Corp. and in a definitive business combination agreement to be publicly listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
- Additional Sports Experience
- Represented The Raine Group LLC as a significant stockholder of DraftKings in connection with its $2.7 billion business combination among Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp., DraftKings Inc. and SBTech (Global) Limited to form DraftKings Inc.
- Represented Raine Group as the lead financial advisor in the $21+ billion merger between WWE and Endeavor Group.
- Represented The Raine Group on its investment in Grupo Televisa, S.A.B.’s transaction to combine Televisa’s content and media assets with Univision to create the largest Spanish-language media company in the world, Televisa-Univision, which will hold the largest long-form library of Spanish language content in the world, a powerful portfolio of IP and global sports rights, fueled by the most prolific Spanish-language production infrastructure.
- Representing well over 100 companies, including professional sports teams, universities and others in matters involving business interruption losses due to COVID-19.
- Represented Fox Corporation, Fox Broadcasting Company and Fox Sports Productions in a patent infringement dispute filed by Recentive Analytics in the District of Delaware relating to network scheduling software, including the automated method of managing its sports and event broadcasting. Secured a complete victory with the Court granting Fox’s motion to dismiss with prejudice, and finding all four asserted patents invalid for failing to claim patentable subject matter.
- Worked on drafting numerous legislation instruments in the State of Qatar, including the newly enacted “Sports Club Regulation Law,” the “Law Regulating Media Activities,” and the “Flag and Emblem” regulation, as well as the latest enacted “World Cup law.”
- Represented a sports and entertainment financing company in its efforts to recover on a loan it made to acquire the sports agency business.
- Represented various MLB, NFL, NHL and other franchises on SAFETY Act/liability protection issues.
- Represented the sole investor in the acquisition and related financing, and subsequent disposition, of a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) franchise.
- Served as general counsel to the Greater Washington Sports Alliance, a nonprofit organization devoted to attracting and promoting sporting events in the Washington, DC, region.
- Represented Electronic Arts relating to licensing arrangements for sports-related properties.
- Served as arbitrator on several sports matters involving professional basketball, boxing, football, and currently being considered for the role of systems arbitrator for professional hockey.
- Advised on the stadium naming rights deal for Abu Dhabi’s Al Ain Stadium.
- Represented a contractor on construction matters arising from the installation of the retractable roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
- Successfully brought a domain-name proceeding on behalf of online ticket marketplace, StubHub, against a notorious cybersquatter with nearly 125 typo variations of the StubHub domain name, all pointing to his infringing “StubHome” website.
- Representing Live Sports Radio in obtaining temporary and experimental authorizations to provide live broadcast service at sporting events, conventions and other public venues.
- Advised Diamond Sports Group (DSG), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., and the largest owner of regional sports networks in the United States, in connection with a series of debt restructuring transactions.
- Advised Sinclair Broadcast Group, (Sinclair), one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country, as finance, securities and FCC regulatory counsel in connection with the completion of Sinclair’s acquisition of a regional sports network business from The Walt Disney Company.
- Represented the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games in right of publicity litigation involving a gymnast whose image was used for the major banner and other advertising.
- Advised a variety of teams on range of IP, commercial and contract issues, including player image rights, trademarks, licensing and player transfer issues.
- Advised the International Cricket Council on various structuring and intellectual property matters.
- Represented Allen & Co. with negotiations in the sale of multiple league franchises, including the Denver Broncos, the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Mets.
- Represented National Lacrosse League teams and their parent organization in connection with its foreign and domestic trademark prosecution, counselling and management, including 250 unique marks.
- Represent ROKA Sports in connection with its foreign and domestic trademark prosecution, counselling and management, including 200 unique marks ROKA is a sports equipment company and sponsors many of the Olympic athletes.