The City of Jacksonville’s Office of General Counsel has selected Sidley Austin LLP to represent it in negotiations with the Jacksonville Jaguars as the two sides explore renovations of TIAA Bank Field. The Jaguars, over the summer, released a $2 billion public-private investment plan to renovate the stadium. Around the same time, the City hired former Jaguars executive Michael Huyghue, who is a professor of law at Cornell University, as a consultant. Huyghue is expected to work closely with the law firm. “This is really an important responsibility because having had an inside seat in the inner workings of the NFL, I think there’s a lot of things in the negotiations with the city and from a revenue standpoint that I can assist with,” Huyghue told the media. The City allocated $2 million for the special legal counsel in her first budget, and the firm will be billed on an as-needed basis, a city spokesperson told the Jacksonville Times-Union. Sidley has been involved in several sports deals this year, including:
- Sidley Represents Owners of the Premier Hockey Federation in the Launch of a New North American Women’s Professional Hockey League
- Sidley Represents Co-Lead Investor Gabe Plotkin and Consortium Member Eric Church in US$3 Billion Majority Stake Purchase of the Charlotte Hornets
- Sidley Represents Mitchell Rales, Magic Johnson, and Other Investors in US$6.05 Billion Josh Harris-Led Consortium to Acquire the Washington Commanders
- Sidley Represents Monarch Collective, A Newly Launched Investment Fund Focused Exclusively on Women’s Sports
- Sidley Represents Jeff Skoll in His Investment in Monumental Sports & Entertainment
- Sidley Represents the State of New York/Empire State Development in US$1.54 Billion Buffalo Bills Stadium Deal
- Sidley Represents Owners in Portland Sea Dogs Sale
