Harris’s $6 Billion Commanders Bid Aided by Three Big Law Firms

Three law firms have landed coveted lead counsel roles in the tentative sale of the Washington Commanders for roughly $6 billion, which would be the largest amount ever paid for a US professional sports franchise.

Davis Polk & Wardwell and Hogan Lovells are advising Apollo Global Management Inc. co-founder Josh Harris and his group of potential buyers, while Cravath, Swaine & Moore is counsel to the NFL’s Commanders and the current owner, Daniel Snyder, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Davis Polk’s role follows the firm’s big win for Harris last month, when the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of fellow Apollo co-founder Leon Black’s racketeering lawsuit against him. Black had accused Harris of trying to ruin his reputation amid infighting at Apollo.

Should Harris complete his purchase of the Commanders, the billionaire will add a crown jewel to a portfolio of sports teams that includes the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, as well as a stake in the Premier League’s Crystal Palace soccer club.

The three law firms and a representative for Harris didn’t respond to comment requests. A spokeswoman for the Commanders declined to comment.

The Commanders deal has yet to be executed and could still fall through, Bloomberg News reported Friday.

Hogan Lovells brings a specialized expertise to the Commanders’ potential new ownership team. The firm represented an investor group last year led by S. Robson Walton, a lawyer and billionaire son of late Walmart Inc. founder Sam Walton, on its $5 billion buy of the NFL’s Denver Broncos.

At the time, that transaction was the largest-ever involving a US sports team.

Cravath’s ties to Snyder and the Commanders are less clear. The team’s current owner faced off against the firm several years ago when Cravath defended Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in a long-running malpractice lawsuit filed by Snyder’s Red Zone LLC. The litigation settled before trial in 2018.

In November, Snyder, plagued by a series of scandals related to his ownership of the team, retained a financial adviser in Bank of America Corp. to explore a potential sale of the Commanders. Harris in March joined fellow billionaire Mitchell Rales and basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson in making a combined bid for the team.

Other contenders also emerged, though Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos bowed out of the bidding, Bloomberg News reported April 12.

Snyder and the Commanders have employed numerous legal advisers over the years, with lawyers from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, Sullivan & Cromwell, Reed Smith, and Holland & Knight representing the franchise.

The team has also cycled through at least four in-house legal chiefs since 2020, with current chief legal and business officer Mali Friedman last year succeeding Damon Jones, who now works for MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers. William Rawson and Eric Schaffer also held the post in recent years.

In February, Schaffer was announced as the new chief commercial officer for Joe Gibbs Racing, a professional stock car racing outfit owned by Joe Gibbs, a former longtime head coach for a previous iteration of the Commanders. During his tenure leading the team, Gibbs won three Super Bowls.