For Third Year, Rich Brand Listed Among Daily Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers

Rich’s sports practice encompasses a number of transactional areas and includes naming rights transactions; media rights agreements; sponsorship agreements; advertising agreements; promotional agreements; food and beverage agreements; suite and club seat licensing; purchases and sales of professional sports franchises; arena and stadium licenses and leases; and financings for professional sports teams and owners of sports and entertainment facilities. Rich’s real estate practice includes complex acquisitions, debt and equity financings, mezzanine loans, preferred equity, joint ventures, and rescue capital transactions,  

Daily Journal’s profile discussed how Rich became involved in the business of Sports:

“Growing up, I played sports and watched any and all sports,” Rich told Daily Journal. Rich played both tennis and basketball prior to attending the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. He added, “Now I’m in the business of sports.”

Rich’s profile also highlighted one of his most prominent transactions that involved naming rights and sponsorships for SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park.

“I love the place,” Rich told Daily Journal, and added that he was recently at the stadium taking his wife and daughters to a Taylor Swift concert.

“I’m a bit of a stadium junkie. I’ll watch the games and the shows, but I’ll also walk around and look at the venue itself,” he told Daily Journal. “A friend called the payback I get from visiting the deals I worked on ‘pyschic income.’ There’s a real feeling of satisfaction and achievement from being involved in something so big and exciting.”

Rich’s major naming rights and sponsorship transactions for SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park included a naming rights transaction with SoFi, a naming rights transaction with YouTube, and well over a dozen high-profile sponsorships.

Concurrently with his work for SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, Rich and his team represented the Board of Trustees of the California State University, on behalf of its San Diego State University campus, in connection with the brand-new Snapdragon Stadium, including naming rights with Qualcomm for the naming of Snapdragon Stadium, numerous high-profile sponsorships, a multi-media rights transaction, and a long-term stadium license agreement with San Diego’s expansion MLS team.

“Sports transactions, especially venues, are a combination of corporate and real estate, both of which are in my wheelhouse,” Rich told Daily Journal.

Rich has been recognized as a leading sports attorney by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, and SportsBusiness Journal, and as a two-time Sports Business Journal Power Player, and as a leading real estate attorney by Best Lawyers. Best Lawyers has also recognized Rich as a “Lawyer of the Year” for his high-profile sports work and the Sports Practice Group has been named as a Sports Practice Group of the Year.

Daily Journal’s annual ranking lists attorneys throughout California who have made a difference to their clients, their firms, and their profession.

Read Rich’s profile here. (Subscription required)