Sports & Entertainment

Professional Sports League and Team Ownership

• ATL Investco in connection with Blue Owl HomeCourt Partners’ minority equity investment in the Atlanta Hawks
• Blue Pool Capital in its investment in the men’s and women’s professional flag football leagues organized by the NFL and TMRW Sports
• Comcast Corporation and the Philadelphia Flyers in connection with the development of a new home arena for the Flyers and 76ers and various related transactions
• Daniel Och and a separate minority investor in connection with their investments in the Tampa Bay Lightning
• Dean Spanos on matters related to the ownership of the Los Angeles Chargers NFL franchise
• First Football LLC in connection with its interests in the Las Vegas Raiders NFL franchise
• Glick Family Investments and others in their investments in the Minnesota Twins
• Frank McCourt and his affiliated entities in the $2.15 billion sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and Dodgers Stadium, in the acquisition of Olympique de Marseille from Margarita Louis-Dreyfus and all ongoing ownership matters

• Joe Tsai in connection with the issuance of a minority interest in BSE Global, the parent company of the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty and Barclays Center, to investors Julia Koch and her children and in connection with his 2018 purchase of a 49% interest in the Brooklyn Nets and renegotiation of the Brooklyn Nets’ arena license at the Barclays Center and in connection with his 2019 purchase of the remaining interests in the Brooklyn Nets and acquisition of the Barclays Center as well as various other ongoing matters
• Khosla family ownership group in its acquisition of the Seattle Seahawks from the estate of Paul G. Allen
• Major League Baseball in numerous transactions, including its $900 million sale of its 15% interest in BAMTech to The Walt Disney Company, its development of the modern minor league system, various other matters relating to regional sports networks and prediction markets
• Major League Baseball (MLB) in substantially all of its ownership, governance and other transactional matters
• Mountain & Co. I Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, in its proposed business combination with FC Barcelona, later terminated
• MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) in numerous transactional matters, including in MLBAM’s formation of BAMTech (a digital streaming technology business) and the Walt Disney Company’s acquisition from MLBAM, in a series of transactions, of all of MLBAM’s interests in BAMTech, and MLBAM in the formation of BAMTech Europe and related partnership with Discovery Communications and several early-stage technology acquisitions
• New York Giants, and the owning Mara and Tisch families, in connection with all financings, ownership, stadium and other team and NFL matters
• New York Giants, NFL franchise, in connection with Julia Koch and her family’s acquisition of a minority, non-controlling interest in the Giants
• The New York Knicks and the New York Rangers on numerous financings and general corporate and ownership matters
• New York Liberty in a capital raise involving Jack Ma, Karen Finerman, Thasunda Brown Duckett, Karlie Kloss and several other strategic investors
• N&P Holdings, a vehicle indirectly owned by the former CEO of SoftBank Group International, Marcelo Claure, in the sale of its interest in the Major League Soccer team Inter Miami F.C. to the team’s existing co-owners, Jorge Mas, Jose Mas and David Beckham
• Robert Pera in connection with a buy/sell transaction and his buyout of certain minority investors in the Memphis Grizzlies
• Various minority investors in acquisitions and dispositions of interests in the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Football Club, the Memphis Grizzlies, Nashville SC and Oklahoma City Thunder
• Bidders in auctions for various sports franchises, including the Carolina Panthers, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Denver Broncos, the Washington Commanders, the St. Louis Blues and the Los Angeles Clippers
• c0ntact Gaming in its acquisition of the Paris franchise in the newly created Call of Duty League
• DM Esports in its agreement to join The Overwatch League as the owner of an expansion franchise in Paris
• Vinod and Neal Khosla in their investment in the San Francisco 49ers

Sports & Entertainment Litigation and Disputes

• Major League Baseball (MLB) and various MLB clubs on a variety of litigation matters:
• Chapter 11 proceedings of Diamond Sports Group, including a decisive trial victory
• securing dismissal of class action claim brought by DraftKings participants alleging sign stealing by MLB teams had “corrupted” fantasy contests
• various litigations arising out of MLB’s reorganization of the minor leagues
• successfully defeating an attempt to force MLB to return All-Star Game to Atlanta
• New York Racing Association (NYRA) in obtaining a dismissal of a high-profile action filed by Thoroughbred horse trainer Bob Baffert stemming from Baffert’s suspension from racing after his horse, Medina Spirit, was disqualified for testing positive for controlled substances following the Kentucky Derby
• New York Giants and New York Jets in connection with their claims and litigation against the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and affiliates of Triple Five Group Worldwide related to the $3 billion American Dream/DreamWorks entertainment and retail development at the Meadowlands Sports
• San Francisco Giants in connection with its MLB territorial dispute with the Oakland Athletics
• A national sports league in connection with allegations in the press regarding the culture at one of the teams in the league, including allegations that the team owner and a high-level executive reportedly made racist and sexist comments. S&C conducted an internal investigation into the merits of these allegations.
• A major professional sports league in the procurement of the dismissal of age discrimination and retaliation charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by a former employee
• Bank Hapoalim in a DOJ investigation concerning alleged money laundering and corruption in connection with international soccer confederations and competitions
• Thomas W. Weisel in matters relating to the doping scandal surrounding Lance Armstrong and the United States Postal Service Cycling Team, including in a Justice Department investigation, in successfully defending a qui tam action brought on behalf of the government by relator Floyd Landis, and in related civil litigation
• Société Nautique de Genève in litigation with Larry Ellison’s Golden Gate Yacht Club over the America’s Cup, obtaining a key ruling that allowed the 33rd Cup to be decided on the water, instead of in court
• Syracuse University in connection with its decision to withdraw from the Big East Conference and to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, including negotiations with the Big East concerning the terms of Syracuse’s early withdrawal

Sports & Entertainment-Related Real Estate

• Atlanta Hawks in connection with the development of The Centennial Yards (previously known as the Gulch) in downtown Atlanta
• Breakthrough Properties and Tishman Speyer in the construction loan financing of the Harvard Enterprise Research campus and in various equity joint venture arrangements
• Frank McCourt in various matters relating to the potential development of the parking lots surrounding Dodgers Stadium and associated joint ventures with affiliates of the team
• Giants Development Services (an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants) in connection with Mission Rock, a 28-acre, mixed-used development adjacent to Oracle Park
• Jujamcyn Theaters in various matters, including a $200 million refinancing of its Broadway theater business and the combination of Jujamcyn’s operations with those of the Ambassador Theatre Group
• Madison Square Garden Entertainment in the $275 million secured credit facility to fund the construction and development of content at the MSG Sphere entertainment facility in Las Vegas
• Madison Square Garden Sports (formerly The Madison Square Garden Company) in connection with various arena and NBA and NHL franchise-related developments, including its bid to redevelop Nassau Coliseum
• McCourt Partners in its acquisition of a core piece of the Dallas Design District, which includes nearly 800,000 square feet of leased showroom, retail and flex office space, through a partnership with HN Capital Partners
• New York Giants and New York Jets in connection with the development and financing of, and other matters relating to, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
• TF Cornerstone in connection with the redevelopment of the Grand Hyatt in New York and related transactions
• The San Diego Padres in connection with the potential development of Tailgate Park adjacent to Petco Stadium
• Tishman Speyer Properties in connection with numerous construction financings, subscription financings, separate managed account formations and joint venture investment transactions
• UBS in connection with its 20-year naming rights agreement for UBS Arena, the home of the New York Islanders

Other Sports & Entertainment Transactions

• Advance in its $730 million acquisition of The IRONMAN Group from Wanda Sports Group Company
• Anheuser Busch InBev in (1) the extension of its nearly 40-year partnership with FIFA as the official beer sponsor of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ and the FIFA World Cup 2026™, (2) the extension of its Worldwide Olympic Partnership through to 2032 with the International Olympic Committee, through which AB InBev’s Corona Cero will be the global beer sponsor of the Olympic Games and (3) its sponsorship agreement with UEFA Club Competitions SA (UC3) to become the Official Beer Partner for all UEFA Men’s Club Competitions (excluding the UEFA Youth League) for the 2027/2028 through 2032/2033 seasons
• Bill Ackman, CEO and Portfolio Manager of Pershing Square Capital Management, in connection with The Professional Tennis Players Association’s launch of Winners Alliance and its equity raises
• Candy Digital in its merger with Palm NFT Studio
• DraftKings in its $1.6 billion acquisition of Golden Nugget Online Gaming and commercial agreement with Fertitta Entertainment; combination with Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp. and SBTech; acquisition of Vegas Sports Information Network; and in approximately $4 billion in equity offerings and a $1.265 billion convertible notes offering
• Investor group led by entrepreneur and sports card collector Nat Turner, D1 Capital Partners and Cohen Private Ventures in its $853 million acquisition of Collectors Universe and Collectors in raising $100 million in new funding at a $4.3 billion valuation, its acquisitions of Card Ladder and SGC, and in a series of transactions with eBay that included a commercial agreement, the sale of Goldin from Collectors to eBay, and the sale of the eBay vault from eBay to PSA
• Madison Square Garden Sports (formerly The Madison Square Garden Company) in the separation of its sports and entertainment businesses, which included a spin-off of its entertainment businesses into a separately traded public company, and sale of Fuse Networks to SiTV Media
• MUSIC as the lead investor in Soundtrack Your Brand’s $15 million pre-growth round and as a co-investor in connection with Francisco Partners’ investment in Kobalt
• Pershing Square, L.P. and Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, the largest SPAC of all time, in its initial $4 billion merger agreement with Universal Music Group (“UMG”) (Netherlands) and subsequent assignment of PSTH’s rights and obligations to acquire 10% of UMG to investment funds affiliated with William Ackman
• RedBird Capital Partners in connection with Skydance Investor Group’s investment of more than $8 billion as part of Skydance Media and Paramount Global’s agreement to form “New Paramount” and in connection with the launch by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and RedBird Capital of Artists Equity
• Wasserman Media Group in connection with various matters, including its acquisition of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, acquisition of CSM Sport and Entertainment Holdings, a strategic investment from Providence Equity Partners and its acquisition of Paradigm Talent Agency’s North American live music representation business