Sidley partners Eric H. Geffner and Irwin P. Raij have been named to The Hollywood Reporter’s inaugural 2025 Top Sports Lawyers list. Honorees were recognized based on their impressive client portfolios, notable legal cases, the scale of their deals, and strong professional reputation.
Eric serves as a trusted advisor to clients, representing private companies and investors in connection with mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, co-investments, joint ventures, and other general corporate matters, with a focus on sports, entertainment, and media. He represents professional sports teams in a number of major U.S. professional sports leagues and sports-related start-ups, including in connection with day-to-day business operations, equity financings, sponsorship deals, licensing deals, stadium and practice facility deals, and other commercial matters. He also represents individuals, groups, and private equity firms on investments in, and acquisitions of, major professional sports and e-sports teams in the U.S. and abroad, including expansion teams.
Irwin co-chairs Sidley’s Entertainment, Sports and Media industry group. He focuses his practice on the business of sports. Irwin has handled matters involving the European Soccer Leagues, Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the United Soccer League, Series A, LaLiga, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League , the National Hockey League, the National Women’s Soccer League, and Formula 1 events. This includes representing clients in sports-anchored public-private partnerships for both professional and collegiate stadiums and related ancillary development, construction, and financing. His practice also includes representing both buyers and sellers of sports franchises in professional sports leagues, media rights, concessions and promotional and advertising agreements (including naming rights, merchandising, and operational agreements). Irwin also has experience handling RSN formation, sports technology counseling/ventures, stadium service agreements, ticketing arrangements, and television, radio, and media rights agreements. His clients include individuals, leagues, teams, universities, financial institutions, and local and state government.
