By Anna Giambelluca, Esq.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP made a significant move to bolster its sports dealmaking capabilities in April 2026, announcing the addition of three high-profile partners to its Mergers and Acquisitions practice. Michael Kuh and Eric Geffner joined the firm, with Matthew Carpenter-Dennis set to follow. The additions come as private equity’s appetite for sports assets continues to grow, with investors eyeing everything from multi-club ownership platforms to real estate and fan experience businesses. Together, the three partners signal Simpson Thacher’s intent to be a dominant force in the rapidly evolving sports M&A market, bringing a rare combination of private practice expertise and league-side experience that few firms can match.
Below are Q&A conversations with each of the three attorneys joining the firm.
Michael Kuh – Based in New York, Kuh advises corporate clients, private equity firms, family offices, and financial investors on mergers, acquisitions, investments, and divestitures across the sports and entertainment industry. He serves as go-to counsel for some of the world’s most prestigious sporting organizations, including teams, leagues, and international governing bodies. He joins as Co-Head of the firm’s Sports group.
Q: You’ve worked on some of the most complex transactions in sports—how have deal structures evolved as alternative asset managers and multi-club ownership models have become more prominent?
A: Sports transactions have evolved from relatively simple, relationship‑driven deals into highly sophisticated investments, driven in part by the entry of private equity and alternative asset managers into the space. Today’s structures include complex governance arrangements, minority protections, multi‑club or platform‑style ownership and tailored exit and liquidity pathways, all layered on top of league‑specific rules and approval processes.
Q: You mentioned that today’s sports deals require more than traditional league navigation. What does having a “sponsor’s mindset” look like in practice when advising clients?
A: It requires fluency on both the franchise side and the investor side, which is increasingly critical given the institutionalization of the sports ecosystem. We advise them holistically about value creation, financing and exit scenarios, in line with investments in any other sector, while also proactively navigating league‑specific rules and other strategic considerations. Both the leagues and the sponsors want to enhance value, but often first time sponsors don’t immediately grasp league sensitivities especially around brand protection, ensuring credible competition, labor matters, antitrust concerns and political exposure, to name a few things
Q: As Co-Head of the new Sports group, what was most important to you in building a practice that reflects where the industry is headed—not where it has been?
A: Simpson Thacher is a destination Firm, with market‑leading capabilities from alternative asset management and digital infrastructure to M&A, finance, regulatory and litigation. The sports market has evolved to sit squarely at the intersection of all of those disciplines. We saw this as an opportunity to build a blue‑chip, fully integrated sports practice that reflects how deals are getting done today and ensures that when people think about sports deals going forward, they think about Simpson Thacher.
Eric Geffner – Based in Los Angeles, Geffner focuses on M&A, joint ventures, and corporate matters in sports, entertainment, and media, with hands-on experience representing professional sports teams on equity financings, sponsorship deals, and stadium transactions. He also advises private equity firms and investor groups on acquisitions of major professional sports teams globally, including expansion franchises. He joins alongside Kuh as Co-Head of the Sports group.
Q: You’ve pointed to rising valuations and an active sponsor landscape—what’s driving that momentum, and do you see it as sustainable over the long term?
A: Private equity’s entry into sports, particularly since 2021 when Arctos Partners took a minority stake in the Golden State Warriors (a deal which Mike worked on), combined with growing media rights, sponsorship, gaming opportunities and other adjacent assets, has driven extraordinary valuation growth, and we’re still in the early innings. Women’s sports assets also remain relatively undervalued, and that’s another area where some of the most compelling growth opportunities are. Sports has also proven resilient through economic cycles in a way few other sectors have.
Q: Your work spans everything from sponsorship and licensing deals to team acquisitions. How has the role of the sports lawyer expanded as teams increasingly operate like sophisticated businesses?
A: Teams today operate like complex, global businesses, which means our role has evolved far beyond league approvals and transactional execution, to M&A, financing, governance, commercial strategy and long‑term value creation. That’s where Simpson Thacher’s platform really excels, bringing all of this under one roof to support clients across every facet of their sports investment.
Q: What are the biggest misconceptions you see from investors—particularly private equity—when they first enter the sports space?
A: We work with our PE clients to help them understand how sports investments may align and may be different from investments in other sectors, including the impact of league fund policies and other industry-specific nuances (including for their limited partners). This helps to structure investments that align with both institutional objectives and league mandates and priorities, which is critical to long‑term success in the sector.
Matthew Carpenter-Dennis – Carpenter-Dennis brings over a decade of inside experience at the NBA, where he most recently served as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel. He oversaw team ownership transactions, arena financings, and capital structuring, and played a key role in drafting the rules permitting private equity investment in NBA teams. He also helped establish the Basketball Africa League, the NBA 2K League, and NBA Investments, the league’s corporate venture capital arm.
Q: After more than a decade at the NBA, how does your in-house experience shape the way you now advise clients in private practice on ownership and investment matters?
A: My position at the NBA gave me a front‑row seat to how league governance and ownership rules operate in practice. An example is the evolving relationship between leagues and institutional investors as more capital allocators enter the sports investment space. My league experience allows me to anticipate issues more comprehensively for clients and guide them in structuring investments in ways that align with league objectives and create opportunities for more successful outcomes.
Q: You’ve described the industry as experiencing “unprecedented growth and increasing complexity.” Where are you seeing that complexity show up most in today’s deals?
A: The complexity shows up at multiple levels of today’s sports transactions. The increased interest in sports investment opportunities and the composition of ownership groups is constantly evolving, which brings with it a variety of perspectives on ownership structures, financing, governance and approaches to compliance with league rules. In particular, as institutional capital continues to play a larger role in the sports industry, deals increasingly involve stakeholders with diversified incentive structures, investment horizons and regulatory constraints, requiring an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the sector as a whole.
Q: Having helped develop rules around private equity investment in NBA teams, how do you see league governance continuing to evolve as institutional capital plays a larger role?
A: Most major US sports leagues have only explicitly permitted institutional capital for five years or less, so it is still very early days. I was on the front lines of creating the NBA’s institutional ownership policies, which was among the earliest examples of domestic leagues becoming more intentional about their willingness to expand ownership beyond traditional sources of capital. Many leagues and team ownership groups – as well as private equity and alternative asset managers who were early to this space – continue to evaluate how these policy shifts will impact the evolution of the sports ecosystem going forward.
Anna Giambelluca is an Austin-based attorney and proud alumna of the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed both her undergraduate and law degrees. Her practice focuses on athlete advocacy and the evolving landscape of college athletics.
