This past week I had the opportunity to chat with Brian Socolow, the Co-Chair and Co-Founder of Loeb & Loeb’s Sports Practice.[1] Recognized as one of the country’s leading sports lawyers, Socolow has built a successful career representing clients across the sports industry in complex commercial transactions and business disputes.
Building a Practice from the Ground Up
Socolow did not start out as a sports lawyer. At the beginning of his incredible 35-year career, he worked as a litigator, representing clients in complex commercial disputes. However, after having done that for a number of years, Socolow decided that he wanted to try and build a sports practice. Before and during law school, he had always had some involvement in the sports world, but he thought that being a lawyer meant doing other things. But after practicing for a while, he decided to take a leap and build his own sports practice, combining his passion for sports and the law. He is now the Co-Chair of Loeb & Loeb’s sports practice and has the pleasure of working on a wide range of fun and interesting sports deals.
Connection to Buffalo
One of those fun and interesting deals Socolow was able to work on was the Buffalo Bills new stadium deal. “It was a very complex transaction to get the stadium built, because there was a tremendous financial commitment from different governments – county government, city government, state government – that all had to be negotiated, agreed upon, and coordinated,” he told me. When asked about how the Bills deal compares to more recent stadium deals, Socolow noted, “Every deal is different. Everyone involved has a different set of constituencies, different local issues and really different negotiating leverage from either side. And all that means is that in some deals, there will be no public commitment, and some deals there will be a very significant commitment.”
Historically, relocation has been a major leverage point for owners when negotiating a new stadium. For example, consider the Rams and the Raiders. With two teams now based out of Los Angeles, it would seem like the threat of relocation has diminished. Socolow disagrees, “Yeah, there are definitely markets that would want an NFL team.” Socolow named San Antonio, Austin, Orlando, and Toronto as potential relocation markets. There have also been persistent rumors of a team relocating to London, as the NFL has returned to the UK capital every year as part of the International Games Series. Like Socolow said earlier, it is all about leverage, and with the NFL’s investment in growing the game overseas, smaller market teams definitely have less leverage when negotiating these deals.
On Private Equity and Sovereign Wealth Changing the College Game
In addition to his work with professional teams, Socolow has extensive experience representing high profile college athletes, collectives, and brands in NIL transactions and endorsement deals.[2] His experience in the college sports industry led me to ask him about the recent developments in this area, like the recent Big Ten private capital deal. “Private equity usually likes deals that have the potential for a very significant return in a very short period of time, say 3 to 5 years maybe,” Socolow explained to me. “Investment in college sports by private equity would be different because chances are they’re not going to see a huge return on investment in a short period of time. But I think they do look at it as a market that is ripe for disruption, [a market] that does have the potential for serious significant returns over maybe a longer time window, and I think brings a little bit of cachet to it, so I think those factors do make college sports attractive for private equity firms.”
Sovereign wealth is also set to make a play into college sports, with the Saudi PIF buying EA Sports – which has NIL deals with hundreds of athletes – and having discussions with athletic departments about investing in NIL collectives. When asked about the public’s concerns regarding sovereign wealth and private equity investment in college sports, Socolow had this to say: “When you bring in a sovereign wealth fund, like when you might bring in a private equity fund, you are in all likelihood ceding some sort of control to them. Especially in a higher educational sphere, giving control over revenue streams – like your athletic department for example – to someone else is a novel and potentially very controversial step, so that’s something that colleges and universities need to think about very carefully.”
These concerns have been echoed by lawmakers recently, with Congressman Michael Baumgartner introducing a bill in the House that would ban universities and conferences from entering deals with sovereign wealth and private equity funds. When asked about his thoughts on the bill, and potentially any challenges with enforcement or compliance, Socolow seemed doubtful that such a bill would pass, “I don’t know if that law would be constitutional because it seems like it would be restricting the ability to contract of a conferences or athletic department.” Socolow also talked about the political power that colleges and universities have, which they could use to stop this bill dead in its tracks. “I think there’s a lot of legal issues, political issues, financial issues to be worked out around that sort of bill, and Congress has had a difficult time getting any sort of consensus on the larger issues of the governance of college athletics. To me, it would be maybe somewhat surprising that they would find a consensus around something that seems to be just as controversial in prohibiting those type of investments in college sports.”
Reflections on Career and Advice for Future Sports Lawyers
Getting a bit more personal, I asked Socolow to reflect on his career and some of his favorite aspects of the job. Socolow has worked with all types of clients, from teams to brands to athletes. When asked if he had a favorite type of client, he said “I love them all, and I say that with absolute sincerity. They’re all different, just like any client that a lawyer has, they are all going to be different. It’s different personalities, different businesses, different financials and other issues that they have, legal issues that need to be solved, and I enjoy all of it.”
As someone who seems so enthusiastic about his work and his career thus far, I of course had to ask him if there was something he wished he would have done differently during the course of his career. His response: “I try to always look forward and not back.” “It’s somewhat unusual if lawyers, after they’ve been practicing for a number of years, are doing exactly what they thought they would be doing when they started practicing after law school. I’m no exception,” he went on to explain. “Sometimes things are decided for you that influence your career, so the only thing I would say is I wish I had focused on sports earlier on in my career because I enjoy it so much. But beyond that, no, I don’t think I would’ve done anything differently. I am enjoying it too much now. I am focused on that and I just hope that it continues.”
As a Board Member of the Sports Lawyers Association,[3] a nation-wide network of sports lawyers, he has had the ability to connect with sports lawyers across the country, especially those starting out their careers. When asked about the future of the sports industry, Socolow seemed enthusiastic about the opportunities for law students and young attorneys wanting to grow their sports law practice: “I think sports has a tremendous future as an industry. Sports has become over time among the most valuable asset classes and one of the most popular industries out there, with all of the challenges and issues that any other industry has. There’s a tremendous influx of money from investors and media companies and others in sports. So, there’s a tremendous opportunity for lawyers to find different ways to participate in the sports industry doing what they enjoy doing as a lawyer. So, I think sports has a tremendous future generally. I think there’s a tremendous future for sports lawyers and I would encourage your readers who are interested in that area to pursue it, and I think they can have a fun, tremendous career.”
[1] https://www.loeb.com/en/people/s/socolow-brian-r
[2] https://www.loeb.com/en/people/s/socolow-brian-r
[3] https://www.loeb.com/en/people/s/socolow-brian-r
Featured Image: @ Loeb & Loeb
Stacy Walker is a third-year law student at the University at Buffalo School of Law. Her areas of interest lie at the intersection of sports and corporate transactions, with prior research done on private equity investments in youth sports and professional stadium development projects.
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