Kevin Schulz

Practice Areas

Corporate, Health Care in Sports, Mergers & Acquisitions, Retail & Consumer Services, Transactions

Career

Kevin R. Schulz focuses his practice in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and commercial transactions. He is a partner in the firm’s Transactional/M&A, Commercial Transactions & Business Counseling, and International Practices, as well as the Health Care & Life Sciences and Manufacturing Sectors, and the Food & Beverage Industry Team. He is co-chair of the firm’s Sports & Entertainment Group.

Kevin routinely represents buyers and sellers, both domestically and internationally, in mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, internal reorganizations, joint ventures, and other strategic alliances in a variety of industries, including professional sports, health care, food and beverage, consumer products, industrial equipment, manufacturing, and consulting services.

Experience

Representative Experience

M&A

-Representing Advocate Aurora Health in its transformative combination with Atrium Health, resulting in Advocate Health, the fifth largest not-for-profit health care system in the nation.

-Representing Aurora Health Care in its merger with Advocate Health Care, resulting in Advocate Aurora Health, the tenth largest not-for-profit health care system in the nation.

-Representing a major aviation technology manufacturer in its acquisition of flight simulator projector technology.

-Representing a precision device company in its acquisition of microwave filters company.

-Representing the seller of a biodiesel facility.

-Representing Aspirus Health in its acquisition of seven hospitals, 21 physician clinics, and air and ground medical transport services from Ascension.

Kevin also serves the role of outside general counsel for a number of private companies, routinely advising them in connection with a variety of commercial matters, including supply agreements, sales representative agreements, licensing arrangements, confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, employment agreements, consulting agreements, terms and conditions of sale and purchase, distribution of goods, and provision of services.

Sports Industry

Kevin also has extensive experience in the sports industry, where he advises sports clients (including professional sports teams, owners, and acquirers of professional sports teams, sports technology companies, colleges, sponsors, and media companies) in connection with a variety of M&A and commercial matters, including sales and acquisitions of professional sports franchises, licensing arrangements, promotional and advertising agreements, sponsorship and endorsement agreements, naming rights, joint ventures, ticketing arrangements, esports, stadium/arena service agreements, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), college multimedia rights agreements, NIL (name, image, and likeness), formation of regional sports networks (RSNs), and television, radio, over-the-top (OTT)/streaming, and media rights agreements.

-Representing the principal owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, Mark Attanasio, and his investor group on their acquisition of a minority stake in English football (soccer) club Norwich City Football Club.

-Representing Enterprise Holdings, Inc. in its naming rights deal with the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues for Enterprise Center.

-Representing the Milwaukee Brewers in the acquisition of the team’s Class A Minor League Baseball affiliate the Carolina Mudcats.

-Representing multiple major universities in their multimedia rights deals.

-Representing the Milwaukee Bucks President and Owner Herbert Kohl in the US $550m sale of the basketball franchise to New York investment firm executives Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens, the then largest transaction ever in the NBA, including a requirement in the deal that the team be kept in Milwaukee, with the parties collectively pledging at least US $200m toward the development of a new arena.

-Representing the owner of an NBA team in its internal reorganization aimed at separating non-sports entertainment properties from the NBA-related holdings, and also helping the team explore options for renovations to modernize the facility and find solutions for gaining public support of a renovation project.

-Representing Guggenheim Baseball Management (the ownership group for the Los Angeles Dodgers) in the formation of American Media Productions, LLC (AMP), which launched a new regional sports network called SportsNet LA, and the related media rights agreement between the Dodgers and AMP, granting AMP the rights to air Dodgers games.

-Representing Guggenheim Baseball Management, the group headed by Mark Walter, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Peter Guber, and Stan Kasten, the former president of the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals, among others, in the acquisition of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the then largest transaction ever for a professional sports franchise.

-Representing Rangers Baseball Express (the investment group led by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan) in its acquisition of the Texas Rangers, a long and complex transaction that culminated in the sale of the club through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy auction.

-Representing the Ricketts family in its acquisition of a controlling interest in the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field and a related ownership interest in a regional sports network, all through a complex leveraged partnership structure, the then single largest transaction ever for a North American sports franchise.

-Representing the Milwaukee Brewers in the sale of the club to Mark Attanasio.

-Representing the seller of a significant minority interest in the Cincinnati Bengals.

-Representing San Diego Padres ownership in the team’s local telecast rights agreement and equity ownership in a regional sports network.

-Representing other teams, media companies, and video game/esports entities in television, radio, over-the-top (OTT)/streaming, and media rights deals, including the Texas Rangers, the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Brewers, Hi-Rez Studios, and a major diversified media company.

Education

Industry Sector Expertise

Blockchain & Digital Assets, Food & Beverage, Health Care & Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Sports & Entertainment