|
Partners and associates in our sports finance group have wide-ranging experience with the needs of lenders, leagues, municipalities, and team owners in the structure and execution of team and sports facility finance. Our sports-specific financing experience helps clients navigate the industry’s complex maze of specialized financing participants, loan structures, and league debt rules. We’ve helped design some of those rules, and we’ve been at the table for a multitude of sports debt transactions, including league-wide, team-level, owner/partner, and stadium/arena financings. As the value of sports teams and the costs of facility construction continue to climb, these transactions increasingly require industry-specific structural features. Given the breadth of our practice, even younger associates in the sports group are well versed in “accommodation pledges”, “golden relocation shares,” “lender standstill consents,” and other specialized elements of the sports lending lexicon.
Representative Matters
- Representing the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission in the financing of the Washington Nationals new baseball stadium.
- Representing the NFL in its $2.5 billion league-wide commercial paper and term note financing program.
- Representing one of the parties providing acquisition financing for the Glazer family’s acquisition of Manchester United Football Club.
- Representing the NFL in the design and implementation (with both lenders and individual teams) of its ground-breaking multi-billion dollar “G-3” stadium financing program, including most recently in connection with the G-3 financings for the new Dallas and Meadowlands stadiums, with the Meadowlands stadium being a first-of-its-kind joint venture between the Jets and Giants.
- Serving as advisor to the NFL and the NHL in reviewing and structuring financings by team franchises and related stadium/arena entities.
- Representing the NFL in its contributions to the repair and renovation of the Superdome in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|