Debevoise's Sports Group has been at the forefront of the industry for over two decades, advising a diverse range of clients across the sports ecosystem on major transactions, business-critical issues and emerging areas of the law.

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.