| Biography:
Wayne D. Katz is a partner in Proskauer's Corporate Department specializing
in the sports and media industries.
Wayne's sports experience includes the representation of the National Basketball
Association and National Hockey League in their various corporate matters, including
team ownership transfers and team financings. Major transactions he has worked
on for the leagues include the NBA's grant of expansion franchises to Toronto,
Vancouver and Charlotte; the NHL's grant of expansion franchises to Nashville,
Atlanta, Columbus and Minnesota; the NBA’s $1 billion League-wide credit
facility; and the formation of the Women's National Basketball Association and
the National Basketball Development League.
He has also worked on several proposed and completed acquisitions of National
Football League and Major League Baseball teams, including Jeffrey Lurie’s
purchase of the Philadelphia Eagles, Robert Wood Johnson IV’s purchase
of the New York Jets, Jeffrey H. Loria’s purchase of a controlling interest
in the Montreal Expos, and Theodore N. Lerner’s recent purchase of the
Washington Nationals. In 2002, Wayne handled the seminal transaction in which
the owners of the Expos sold the Expos to Major League Baseball and simultaneously
purchased the Florida Marlins from John Henry. He recently represented Red Bull
GmbH in its purchase of the Major League Soccer MetroStars.
Wayne has handled numerous financing transactions and other commercial agreements
on behalf of his sports clients. He has extensive experience with stadium and
arena development, financing and lease transactions, including representing
the NBA in its temporary relocation of the New Orleans Hornets to Oklahoma City,
Red Bull in its joint development and lease of a new stadium in Harrison, New
Jersey, the Eagles in its financing of Lincoln Financial Field, and the Marlins
in its negotiations for a new stadium in South Florida.
Wayne's media experience includes numerous acquisitions, dispositions and financings
relating to cable systems, television stations, radio stations, publications
and other media properties. He has also handled mergers, acquisitions, financings
and investments, and has prepared partnership agreements, limited liability
company agreements, shareholders agreements, securities filings and various
other corporate documents, for clients in a wide range of other industries.
Wayne graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Business Administration from
the University of Michigan and cum laude from the University of Michigan
Law School. He was inducted into the Sports Business Journal’s Hall
of Fame after being named one of the “40 under 40” most influential
sports executives in 2000, 2001 and 2002. He has also been selected by Chambers
USA as one of the nation’s leading attorneys in the sports field, and
by Lawdragon as one of is 500 New Stars.
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