ArentFox Schiff Advises California State University in a Long-Term Stadium Licensing Transaction With New MLS Expansion Team in San Diego

ArentFox Schiff served as outside counsel to California State University, on behalf of its San Diego State University campus and Snapdragon Stadium, in a long-term stadium licensing deal with San Diego’s new MLS expansion team that provides for the expansion team to play its home matches at Snapdragon Stadium beginning in 2025.

The new San Diego MLS team will join San Diego State Aztecs football, the NWSL’s San Diego Wave FC, and the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby as teams that use Snapdragon Stadium as their home venue.

San Francisco Managing Partner and Sports Practice Leader Richard L. Brand and Associate Zachary D. Welsh represented California State University in the transaction.

In addition to the Stadium licensing transaction, AFS previously represented CSU in connection with the naming rights transaction and all founding partner sponsorships for Snapdragon Stadium and continues to represent CSU in connection with other ancillary matters related to the Stadium and the SDSU Athletics Department.

This matter is just the most recent high-profile transaction handled by ArentFox Schiff’s Sports Industry Practice Group, which has been named by Law360 as a “Practice Group of the Year.” Other notable recent work include:

  • Serving as legal counsel to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in transactions awarding expansion rights for the new San Francisco Bay Area franchise and the new Boston franchise.
  • Advising Wyndham Hotels in connection with a multi-year, league-wide sponsorship transaction with Minor League Baseball that makes Wyndham the “Official Hotel and Resort Partner” of Minor League Baseball.
  • Advising Just Women’s Sports, a California-based, digital-first consumer media brand dedicated to women’s sports, on a transaction with iHeartPodcasts, the leading audio company in the United States, for the distribution of Just Women’s Sports’ well-known podcast ‘Snacks.’
  • Counseling the Los Angeles Lakers and AEG, the owners of Crypto.com Arena, on a long-term lease extension ensuring that the iconic NBA franchise will remain in their downtown Los Angeles home arena through the 2041 season.
  • Representing California-based ASM Global, the world’s largest venue management company formed by the merger of AEG Facilities and SMG, on a new long-term lease agreement and $40 million renovation plan for the multipurpose sports venue Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
  • Representing SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, home of the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams, in multiple high-profile naming rights and sponsorship transactions.

ArentFox Schiff’s Sports group boasts one of the most experienced and diverse sports practices in the country and regularly advises sports organizations (including leagues, conferences, teams, and national governing bodies), players, sponsors, and investors on a broad variety of sports matters, including the acquisition and sale of professional sports franchises and properties.

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