SPECIAL REPORT | 50 COMPANIES
Law Proskauer Rose Why? The go-to law firm for major league labour disputes. Few law firms can rival Proskauer Rose when it comes to sporting pedigree. The New York City-founded powerhouse’s sports department took its first steps with the NBA in the 1960s and has gone on to work in some capacity with every major league throughout the US. It has also produced two of the country’s most senior sports leaders in David Stern and Gary Bettman, who trained with the firm before joining the NBA and NHL respectively. In establishing its own leadership position in sport, Proskauer Rose has built a reputation, honed over many years, as something of a labour dispute and collective bargaining specialist; indeed, it has become the go-to sports law practice for league administrators whenever a lockout threatens to rear its ugly head. The firm had presided over two NHL lockouts, four player/owner disputes in the NBA and the NFL’s 2011 lockout before its most recent high-profile case: the agreement to end the NHL lockout which ran from September 2012 to January 2013 was concluded in Proskauer’s Manhattan offices. Beyond resolving lockouts, Proskauer has evolved with the industry and now routinely represents ownership groups acquiring sports properties across the major leagues. IM
NBA commissioner David Stern is a notable veteran of Proskauer Rose
Finance Qatar Sports Investments Why? The industry’s deepest pockets. Nowhere has Qatar’s commitment to using sport as a national brand-building effort been more evident that in its investments in soccer. With the 2022 Fifa World Cup looming, somewhat awkwardly, on the horizon, Qatar is attempting to ingratiate itself in the global soccer family and Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) is its vehicle for doing just that. Founded in 2005, QSI is an offshoot of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a sovereign wealth fund that invests domestically and internationally on behalf of the resource-rich emirate’s ruling family, and such state-backed buying power means it is a force to be reckoned with. QSI arrived on the scene amid much fanfare in 2010 after striking a headturning US$220 million deal with FC Barcelona that has since seen Qatar Airways become the first ever for-profit commercial entity to adorn the front of the Catalan club’s famous shirts. The following year the company bought a controlling stake in Ligue 1 soccer side Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and with it a doorway to further Qatari invest in the French market. The question now is: where next? QSI has primarily focused on turning PSG into a global force in recent months but it is surely only a matter of time before the company invests again. ML 78 | www.sportspromedia.com
CVC Capital Partners Why? Are Formula One’s owners looking for an exit route? In the search for profit, no wonder private equity firms have come to see sport as one big opportunity. CVC Capital Partners is amongst the best known – as the largest shareholder of Formula One, a position CVC has held since 2005, it is hard to be anything other than a topic of discussion, even if the desire is to operate in the background. CVC has become part of the sport’s unending soap opera, spending much of its time refinancing and, for the last couple of years, pondering the right moment to float the company. A plan to do so last year stalled and a series of what might best be described as complications, not least the legal travails awaiting Bernie Ecclestone in the UK and Germany, have since prevented another try. Publicly, at least, there remains no sign of a succession plan, with chief executive and chief string-puller Ecclestone reaching 83 in October. It is a situation which will come to a head sooner or later. Outside Formula One, meanwhile, CVC is reported to be in the running to buy IMG, an acquisition which would give the company a greater influence still over international sport. DC