Sports Law

Recent representations include:

• RedBird Capital Partners: Advised RedBird Capital Partners in its $3.47 billion acquisition of the YES Network, a regional sports network, with an investor group including Yankee Global Enterprises, Sinclair Broadcasting Group,  and others from The Walt Disney Company as well as the $1.2 billion acquisition of Italy’s AC Milan Football Club.
• Otro Capital and RedBird Capital: Advised Otro Capital and RedBird Capital in their investment in Alpine Racing, a world class F1 team that finished top 4 in the 2022 F1 World Championship.
• National Football League: Advised the National Football League, a professional sports league, in its joint venture with Skydance Media, a diversified media company, to create a global multi-sports production studio with Skydance Sports, developer of scripted and unscripted sports-related content and events.
• Shaquille O’Neal and Jersey Legends: Advised Shaquille O’Neal and his production company Jersey Legends, known for its award-winning, sports-orientated documentary content, on its strategic partnership with the newly formed Authentic Studios, the entertainment division of global brand development platform Authentic Brands Group.
• LIV Golf: Advised LIV Golf in its formation, development and all general corporate matters related to league operations.
• Beemok Capital: Advised Beemok Capital, a family office, on the acquisition of Cincinnati’s Western and Southern Open tournament from the United States Tennis Association, the governing body of U.S. tennis.

Recent representations include:

• New York Belmont Retail Partners: Advised New York Belmont Retail Partners in a master ground lease and three sub-ground leases for land owned by Empire State Development as part of the Belmont Park Redevelopment Project, which includes the development of UBS Arena, home of the NHL’s New York Islanders, and ongoing development of a retail center and garage located in Elmont, New York as the first Bicester Village destination retail center in the United States of Value Retail.
• Oakland A’s: Advising Oakland A’s Major League Baseball team in its efforts to develop a new stadium and ancillary development, first in Oakland and now, with the team’s announced relocation plans, in Las Vegas.
• The Kroenke Group: Advising the Kroenke Group, owner of the former St. Louis Rams football franchise, in leading the development team implementing the multi-billion dollar sports and entertainment complex on 298 acres in Inglewood, including SoFi Stadium and the YouTube Theatre.
• Murphy’s Bowl LLC: Advising Murphy’s Bowl in the land acquisition and pre-development strategy for the $1.2 billion Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Center (IBEC), also known as the Intuit Dome, as the new home of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team as well as a fourth major concert venue in the City of Inglewood.
• The Golden State Warriors: Advising The Golden State Warriors in their successful entitlement of a new event center and mixed use development in the Mission Bay area of San Francisco.
• The Los Angeles Rams: Advised The Los Angeles Rams on the successful entitlement of the Team’s practice facility in the Warner Center neighborhood of Los Angeles.
• The City of Los Angeles: Advised the City of Los Angeles in the public-private partnership aspects of the construction of the Staples Center.

Recent representations include:

• Alberto Salazar and the Nike Oregon Project: Successfully represented Alberto Salazar and the Nike Oregon Project in connection with one of the largest and longest anti-doping cases brought by USADA.
• Nike USA, Inc.: Successfully represented Nike USA, Inc. in connection with a sponsorship dispute brought by NFL wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. related to OBJ’s violation of the terms and conditions of his sponsorship. Following a jury trial in Oregon state court, Gibson Dunn achieved a complete defense verdict for Nike.
• Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI): Secured a complete victory for Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) in the Western District of Kentucky upholding CDI’s 2023 suspension of trainer Bob Baffert after post-race testing indicated a banned drug was present in the system of Medina Spirit – a horse trained by Baffert and winner of the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby.
• DraftKings and FanDuel: Secured High-Profile Appellate Victory Confirming Legality of Fantasy Sports in New York. Gibson Dunn helped the New York Attorney General score a complete appellate victory for DraftKings and FanDuel, in a high-profile, high-stakes fantasy sports case that a group of plaintiffs brought against the New York Governor and Gaming Commission.
• Topgolf International Inc.: Won dismissal, affirmed on appeal, for Topgolf International Inc. of an antitrust action alleging that the company attempted to monopolize the golf entertainment center business when it purchased a 3-D ball-tracking system that analyzes the shots golfers take on driving ranges.
• The Oakland A’s: Secured sweeping victory on behalf of Athletics Investment Group, LLC (the “Oakland A’s”) in a case before the California Court of Appeal involving a challenge to the Governor of California’s authority to certify the Oakland A’s proposed baseball stadium project at Howard Terminal in Oakland under Assembly Bill No. 734.
• OutFront Media: Successfully represented OutFront Media after a proposed class of former NCAA Division I football and men’s basketball players sued 27 defendants, including the major television networks, the NCCA conferences, and licensors of colleges’ intellectual property.
• Nike: Obtained a complete win on behalf of Nike in an arbitration filed by a Canadian professional tennis player seeking additional monies under their professional athlete endorsement contract.
• Jordan Chiles: Representing Jordan Chiles in asking Switzerland’s Supreme Court to overturn a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that stripped Chiles of a bronze medal in floor exercise at the 2024 Olympics.
• America One Racing: Represented America One Racing and affiliated individuals in defending against a federal lawsuit brought by US Sailing, the National Governing Body for the sport of sailing within the United States. Before the deadline for moving to dismiss, Gibson Dunn successfully negotiated a settlement of the lawsuit at the pleading stage.