Sports

Fact Sheet

Experience

  • Professional Sports Leagues

    • 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 winning summary judgment against retired players' publicity-rights claims.
    • The National Football League in independent investigations into allegations of tanking made against the Cleveland Browns and allegations of tanking and tampering made against the Miami Dolphins and their owner Stephen Ross.
    • The National Football League in various matters related to possible owner misconduct, including an independent investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct made against the Washington Commanders and their owner, Dan Snyder.
    • The National Hockey League in a UDRP complaint against a cybersquatter that has posted a pornographic website at a domain name incorporating the Philadelphia Flyers trademark.
    • The National Hockey League in the successful defense of the “Minnesota Wild” trademark by the NHL’s Minnesota franchise.
    • The NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs in a dispute with Snoop Dogg regarding his applications for the trademark “Leafs By Snoop” and an accompanying design mark resembling the Maple Leafs’ design mark.
    • Steven Cohen and Cohen Private Ventures in the $2.4 billion acquisition of the New York Mets.
    • Steven Cohen and Cohen Private Ventures in the acquisition of rights to operate a New York team in TGL, the new tech-forward, primetime golf league developed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW sports in partnership with the PGA tour.
    • The United States Tennis Association (USTA) in conducting a review of its policies and procedures for preventing, reporting, and responding to reports of abuse.
    • A professional sports league on a wide range of data privacy and security issues, including compliance with U.S. privacy laws, obligations under GDPR, and privacy architecture for global expansion.
    • The National Basketball Association in the negotiation and application of collective bargaining agreement provisions relating to player compensation.
    • A major professional sports league with respect to legal implications of potential uses of facial recognition and other biometric technologies.
    • A major sports league in a confidential investigation of a team’s compliance with league rules.
    • A sports governing body in response to a cybersecurity incident, including associated global regulatory response.
    • A professional sports league in an arbitration.

  • Collegiate and Amateur Sports

    • The Ohio State University in an investigation into alleged mishandling of reports of domestic violence by Urban Meyer, the school’s football coach.
    • Syracuse University in winning dismissal of a defamation action brought in New York state court by former ball boys for the University’s basketball team.
    • Syracuse University in investigations by the United States Attorney’s Office and the Special Committee of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees, which arose as a result of allegations of sexual abuse made against Bernie Fine, former Associate Head Coach of the University’s men’s basketball team. These investigations ended without any charges being brought.
    • A leading university’s head football coach in a national antitrust class action lawsuit.

  • Media, Broadcasting and Entertainment

    • Former Fox executive Hernan Lopez, in a seven-week federal criminal trial involving allegations of fraud and bribery, in which the judge ordered the acquittal of the client.
    • Fox Corporation in successfully defeating a preliminary injunction motion in a trademark and false advertising lawsuit brought by the owners of the 1980s United States Football League against the league and team names of the new USFL.
    • Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor, in Endeavor’s $13 billion take-private sale to Silver Lake.
    • NBC Universal and Rory McIlroy in the successful settlement of trademark infringement and antitrust claims brought by GolfClub LLC over the use of the trademark GOLFPASS.
    • Amazon as strategic partner to Yankee Global Enterprises in the acquisition of the YES Network from The Walt Disney Company at a total enterprise value of $3.47 billion.
    • Globo Comunicação e Participações in its $608.4 million sale of a strategic equity stake in SKY Brasil to DIRECTV.
    • Matchroom Boxing Limited in the successful resolution of a dispute over the heavyweight boxing championship rematch.
    • SocioMX, a company that organizes soccer games between international major league teams and provides fan engagement opportunities, in obtaining a preliminary injunction against use of the SOCIOS trademark and socios.com domain name for a competing soccer fan engagement program based on cryptocurrency tokens.

  • Sports Equipment and Apparel

    • StockX in a dispute brought by Nike for alleged trademark infringement related to StockX’s Vault Nike NFTs.
    • Adidas America in obtaining summary judgment, and an affirmance on appeal, dismissing civil RICO claims related to payments received by high-school basketball players and their family members.
    • S&S Activewear in its acquisition of TSC Apparel, a leading national distributor of blank apparel and accessories.
    • S&S Activewear, a leading American imprintable apparel wholesale company and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice portfolio company, in its acquisition of TSF Sportswear, a multi-line wholesaler.
    • Kelso & Company in its sale of Augusta Sportswear Brands to Platinum Equity.
    • The Dolan family, the controlling stockholders of Madison Square Garden, in the spin-off of Madison Square Garden’s live sports and entertainment businesses.
    • The Dolan family in MSG Entertainment’s acquisition of MSG Networks.
    • A global shoe and apparel company in a federal corruption investigation.

  • Fantasy Sports and Gaming

    • FanDuel in defending Attorney General actions seeking to prohibit the fantasy sports contests it sponsors as illegal gambling.
    • FanDuel in a review of the company’s internal controls, standards, and practices.
    • Management of Sky Bet in the sale of a controlling stake in the company by Sky to funds advised by CVC, in a transaction valuing Sky Bet at £800 million.
    • One of the two leading fantasy sports companies in defending against Attorney General actions seeking to prohibit the fantasy sports contests it sponsors as illegal gambling.
    • A major fantasy sports provider in multiple issues relating to the legality of daily fantasy sports and allegations of false advertising.

  • Fitness

    • Gympass, a corporate wellbeing platform, in the acquisition of Trainiac, a leading one-on-one personal training fitness platform.
    • Winged Foot Golf Club, along with certain present and former members of the Board of Directors of the Winged Foot Holding Corporation, in shareholder derivative and securities class action lawsuits pending in the Southern District of New York.