Entertainment, Sports and Media
Five Key Facts About Sidley's Entertainment Sports and Media Practice
- Established Industry Leadership: Sidley has long been a premier destination firm for the entertainment, sports, and media industries, with a longstanding tradition of advising the world’s leading companies, investors, and industry stakeholders on their most significant legal and business matters. With lawyers strategically positioned in key industry hubs, including Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Miami, New York, London, and throughout Asia, our globally integrated team brings decades of experience, deep industry relationships, and a sophisticated understanding of the evolving challenges and opportunities facing our clients into the future.
- Extensive Scope and Capabilities: Led by co-leaders Matthew Thompson, Rollin Ransom, and Irwin Raij, our team comprises more than 70 lawyers across 13 offices worldwide, delivering seamless, integrated transactional, litigation, and regulatory counsel across the full spectrum of industry needs. Our capabilities span transformative mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, capital raises, joint ventures, sophisticated financing arrangements, innovative content and distribution agreements, tax matters, high-stakes litigation, stadium and arena development, live entertainment venues, restructurings, and complex regulatory matters.
- Landmark Litigation Experience: Clients turn to Sidley for complex, high-stakes disputes involving intellectual property, copyright, trade secrets, defamation, First Amendment rights, and commercial litigation. Recent victories include securing the dismissal of Drake’s high-profile defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group and a third major litigation victory for the City of Pasadena and Rose Bowl Operating Company in its dispute involving UCLA’s football stadium agreement.
- Transformative Transactions: We advise leading production companies, major music publishers, digital platforms, professional sports franchises, leagues, private equity sponsors, investors, and other industry stakeholders on transformative acquisitions, strategic investments, and complex M&A transactions ranging from tens of millions to multibillion-dollar deals. With extensive transactional experience spanning all major professional sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, NWSL and international football, our lawyers are trusted to advise on some of the most significant ownership and investment transactions shaping the global sports landscape. Recent high-profile transactions include Sidley’s representation of Clearlake Capital Group and Chelsea Football Club in an ownership transition, as well as Warner Music Group in forming a joint venture with Bain Capital to acquire up to US$1.2 billion in recorded music and music publishing catalogs.
- High-Level Recognition: Our market-leading work and commitment to client success have earned widespread recognition from leading legal directories and industry publications including Chambers USA, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Billboard, Sports Business Journal, Law360, The LA Times and Legal 500. Most recently, Matthew Thompson was named a 2026 “Entertainment Visionary” by the Los Angeles Times, Rollin Ransom was named to Billboard’s list of “Top Music Lawyers” for 2026, and Irwin Raij was named to The Hollywood Reporter’s 2026 “Top Sports Lawyers” list.
