Our clients include major sports leagues like the NFL and NBA, team owners, private equity funds, family offices, apparel companies, media companies, ...

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Emily F. Huang

Zachary H. Saltzman

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Debevoise is assisting the NFL as funds counsel in connection with its recently approved policy allowing private equity funds to purchase non-controlling interests of up to 10% of an NFL club. For press coverage of this development see the following articles from Law360:

NFL To Allow PE Ownership, Joining Pro Sports League Peers
The NFL-Approved PE Firms That Can Now Invest In Teams

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The precedential July 11 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Johnson v. NCAA raises several questions about the practical consequences of treating collegiate athletes as employees. Debevoise lawyers break down the implications in Law360:

Behind 3rd Circ. Ruling On College Athletes’ FLSA Eligibility

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Our clients include major sports leagues like the NFL and NBA, team owners, private equity funds, family offices, apparel companies, media companies, gaming organizations, and other companies operating in this sector. Our work for these clients is broad and multi-disciplinary, involving nearly two dozen practices across hundreds of matters ranging from mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property disputes, civil litigation, contract negotiation, data privacy and cybersecurity, and investigations.Representative examples of our work include:

The National Football League in its recently approved policy allowing private equity funds to purchase non-controlling interests of up to 10% of an NFL club;

The National Football League in various matters related to possible owner misconduct;

The National Basketball Association in the negotiation and application of collective bargaining agreement provisions relating to player compensation;

Steve Cohen in a multi-billion dollar acquisition of the New York Mets;

adidas in dismissing civil RICO claims related to payments received by high-school basketball players and their family members;

FanDuel in defending Attorney General actions seeking to prohibit the fantasy sports contests it sponsors as illegal gambling;

the controlling stakeholders of Madison Square Garden in multiple transactions; and

Fox Corporation in IP disputes regarding the establishment of the United States Football League.

Our deep familiarity with the industry as advisors to leagues, investors and other industry players enables us to deliver nuanced, strategic advice to clients in both high-stakes litigation and complex transactions.