Weil Makes Sports Deals Play in Hiring Hogan Lovells’ Argeris

Weil Gotshal & Manges has hired partner Steve Argeris from the bustling corporate sports law practice at Hogan Lovells, making a push into an increasingly active industry for the law firm’s private equity clients.

The Washington and New York-based Argeris has been part of deals teams representing the buyers of the NFL’s Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos. He’s advised on deals involving Major League Soccer, National Women’s Soccer League, Major League Cricket and Major League Pickleball, and worked on investments in sports-related businesses.

For a firm with a strong private equity practice, Argeris’ hire is a response to a surge of sports industry investment ranging from Big Four sports franchises to media companies, emerging sports leagues, and even companies that maintain stadium grass.

“We have to be in a position where we are able to service our clients in all of the key industry verticals in which they participate, and sports is one of those,” Kyle Krpata, co-head of Weil’s U.S. Private Equity practice, said in an interview. Argeris’ hire “adds expertise to broaden our capabilities and make us more of an interesting partner to our clients.”

Krpata said there is a “huge opportunity” to advise the firm’s clients on sports deals work. He cited the recent NFL decision to allow private equity ownership and the explosion of college-level name, image and likeness deals, saying Argeris’ past experience in both areas made him “the perfect addition.”

Private Equity Pumps Deals

There was $34 billion worth of sports and technology deals in the first half of 2024, up more than three times the previous half-year period, according to a report from investment bank Drake Star. That activity comes as sports-specific investment firms, such as Red Bird Capital, Arctos Partners or Dynasty Equity, pump billions of private capital into the sports world.

The booming size of sports deals—teams have sold for north of $6 billion—has drawn the interest of law firms that are known for handling the largest corporate transactions including Latham & Watkins, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz—and now Weil.

The once-niche sports transactions practice has historically been dominated by a handful of firms with deep ties to the major leagues, including Hogan Lovells, Covington & Burling, Proskauer Rose, DLA Piper and, more recently, Sidley Austin.

Weil has longstanding sports ties of its own. Litigation partner Andrew Tulumello often represents leagues or athletes in the context of litigation or investigations, including then-New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the infamous “Deflategate” scandal.

The firm last year represented Major League Baseball star Shohei Ohtani and the MLB Players Association in a class action related to their endorsement of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Argeris will bolster its transactional offerings in the sports world. He had some personal connections to Weil, including having spent his 1L summer as an intern for Weil’s now antitrust co-head Michael Moiseyev while he was working at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Steve Argeris

Credit: Firm handout

“Weil is one of a very small number of elite private equity shops and it was an incredible opportunity to meld what I’ve been doing and building while really standing on the platform that Kyle and his team have already built,” Argeris said in an interview. “This is work that we know these asset managers increasingly care about.”

For its part, Hogan Lovells’ sports group has stayed busy, closing a deal last month as adviser to Texas-based private equity firm Presidio Investors on its acquisition of Hellas Verona, a team in Italy’s Serie A soccer league.

A onetime sportswriter for the Washington Post, Argeris started his Big Law career at Willkie Farr & Gallagher and also worked at Hunton & Williams. In 2015 he went to work for Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper’s Tepper Sports & Entertainment, leaving as its general counsel in 2020.

At Hogan Lovells, he advised on some of the largest sports franchise sales and investments. He guided in November the family that owns real estate investment management firm Morgan Properties in purchasing a limited partnership interest to join MLB’s Philadelphia Phillies ownership group.

Argeris late last year was also part of the Hogan Lovells team advising Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai on an investment in the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.

The NFL is poised to be an active space for dealmaking after the league last year allowed select private equity groups to invest in its franchises. The first of those deals took place last year when Ares purchased 10% of the Dolphins and Arctos acquired a stake in the Buffalo Bills.

That leaves more than two dozen other potential deals to be made, which Argeris and Krpata said are a natural target for Weil’s team.

“With Steve’s background being directly in the league and then the transactions that he’s worked on while at law firms,” Krpata said, “all of that will be very valuable to us.”