Consistently recognized as a leader in the sports law field by colleagues, clients, and industry experts, Irwin Kishner of Herrick Feinstein has architected some of the largest and most innovative deals in the world of professional sports.
Specifically, he has acted as lead counsel in all aspects of 14 major stadium transactions, most significantly the new Yankee Stadium and the development of Citi Field. Kishner also represents financial institutions and bond insurers in stadium finance matters as well as loans to teams and team owners. In addition, he has advised on significant naming rights, joint venture transactions, media rights transactions, sponsorship, and concessions transactions for major stadiums across the U.S. as well as executive compensation and employment matters.
More on the breadth of his legal work can be found in his bio: https://www.herrick.com/irwin-a-kishner/
But we also wanted to learn more from Kishner about his career in his own words, which is why we sought him out for the following interview.
Question: How did you get into Sports Law?
Answer: When I first joined Herrick over thirty years ago, I became interested in joining their sports law practice. I have been lucky enough to work with clients in the sports industry since that time and have continued to grow our group in deal volume, deal size as well as grow the size of the practice internally. Our work touches almost every department in the firm. We have represented major athletic teams and affiliated entities in hundreds of billions of dollars of transactions. Countless novel and transformative concepts have been brought to fruition by our attorneys – including regional sports broadcasting, pay-per-view and premium stadium experiences.
Q: How would you describe your practice?
A: I provide creative and strategic corporate counsel to my clients through their most critical transactions in the corporate and sports space with a focus on mergers and acquisitions along with a diverse range of joint ventures. Our team counsels on a broad scope of matters for our sports clients including league and team formation and operation, arena and stadium financing and development, naming rights, sponsorships, concession and venue related services agreements, media rights, team acquisitions dispositions and investments and a range of ancillary concerns.
Q: Who are your typical clients?
A: We do not have one typical client. In the sports world, we represent a diverse roster of clients including professional teams in almost every league, emerging sports and leagues, investors, owners, lenders, leagues, collegiate athletic conferences, private equity funds, venture capital funds, joint ventures, mass media companies, internet service providers, not-for-profit corporations, governmental entities, food, beverage, merchandise, retail, and stadium operations corporations, venue development, management, and premium hospitality service companies and other key stakeholders.
Q: What is the best part about being an attorney at Herrick?
A: The people – which includes our attorneys and staff, but most importantly our clients, many of whom we have worked with for decades. Herrick was originally established in 1928 as a boutique law firm in New York City. What makes Herrick unique is the way the firm and its practices have grown and evolved over the last 96 years. We continue to embrace our history and core values, which includes maintaining an excellent level of professional service for our clients and a culture of respect and collegiality at the firm. As we have evolved, we have honed and developed several nationally recognized practices in a number of areas – including our sports practice. We are in the unique position for a firm of our size in that we are able to provide a wide range of services to our clients.
Q: What trends are you watching in 2024 and why?
A: I have seen the rise in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the last few years. There have been many applications in the sports world including the role of Generative AI in content creation, advertising and marketing and operational efficiency. The institutionalization of sports teams has also been trending. With the increase in team valuations, we have seen significant activity in the sports stack. We are seeing an increase private equity investments in professional teams, as well as additional assets related to the teams. Women’s sports are rapidly increasing in popularity, as are new opportunities for female athletes. The prospect that college athletes will be classified as employees has also created a range of considerations and issues for players, schools, and conferences.
