Former President & CEO of Major League Baseball Joins Foley as Partner
Foley and media and sports investment bank Evolution Media Capital (EMC) jointly announced today that Robert A. “Bob” DuPuy has been named a partner within Foley’s Sports Industry Team in New York, and senior advisor at EMC, an affiliate of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the world’s leading entertainment and sports agency.
DuPuy is the former president and Chief Operating Officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) where he held general responsibility for MLB’s central offices, including sponsorship, international broadcasting, baseball operations, legal affairs, Internet operations and MLB’s labor relations committee among other duties. Prior to joining MLB in 1998, he was a partner with Foley & Lardner and member of the firm’s management committee. While a partner with Foley, DuPuy served as outside legal counsel for MLB beginning in 1989 and as the principal outside counsel to the MLB commissioner and executive council from 1992 to 1998.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Bob back to Foley,” said Ralf Boer, chairman and CEO of Foley. “Bob’s return to Foley illustrates the value he brings to the many clients within our thriving sports industry practice. His experience runs the gamut of the business issues that continue to challenge professional sports as a whole and his ability to navigate those issues will prove to be invaluable for clients.”
Formed in 2008 as a partnership between the former team from Merrill Lynch’s Media and Sports Structured Finance Group and CAA, EMC has raised or advised on more than $2 billion in media and sports transactions. The bank has been at the center of many significant deals, from capital raising and structuring, and broadcast rights negotiations, to stadium financing and mergers and acquisitions. Among many other transactions, EMC represented the successful buyers of MLB’s Texas Rangers and negotiated the team’s record-setting media rights deal. It also provides advisory services to the Pacific-10 Conference, including negotiation and deal structuring to maximize revenue and exposure opportunities in its media rights negotiations, and comprehensive analysis of conference expansion opportunities; structured Sony ATV’s $300 million of debt financing for its 50% ownership of the Beatles library; advised on the establishment of animation film studio Illumination, which recently released the film “Despicable Me,” earning $542 million at the box office to date; and raised $100 million for a National Geographic film fund.
At EMC, DuPuy will play a key role developing and executing upon opportunities across the sports and media spectrum, particularly in the areas of content rights and mergers and acquisitions.
“Having someone of Bob’s caliber, experience and relationships will be a tremendous advantage for our clients and for EMC as we continue to grow,” said Bob Stanley, co-head of EMC. “His track record speaks for itself and his expertise across every facet of the sports business is unsurpassed.”
On his new positions with Foley and EMC, DuPuy explained, “My experience at MLB was fantastic – a dream job for a baseball fan. I am now ready and excited to return to my professional roots as an attorney serving a wide range of clients facing an increasingly complex series of legal challenges, and I couldn’t imagine doing that anywhere else but Foley. Fortunately,” DuPuy continued, “I have the rare opportunity to play multiple professional roles at this time. There is so much exciting momentum at EMC and CAA, where the combination of highly talented and experienced bankers with the tremendous resources and relationships of the biggest talent and sports agency in the world offers something totally unique to the media and sports industries. It’s ‘banking-plus,’ and EMC’s impressive performance to date testifies to its distinctive power for clients.”
The return of DuPuy further strengthens Foley’s 40-member Sports Industry Team, which recently closed deals for the successful buyers of the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs. Foley’s national sports practice covers a full range of legal services and counts the Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins, Milwaukee Brewers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Washington Nationals and Milwaukee Bucks among its sports clients. Foley will also continue its role as outside counsel to Major League Baseball and MLB Advanced Media.
DuPuy will be based in New York and will also serve as adjunct professor at Cornell University Law School.
About Foley & Lardner
With nearly 1,000 attorneys in 21 offices, Foley & Lardner LLP provides award-winning business and legal insight to clients across the country and around the world. Our team-based approach, innovative technology, and focus on value and client service are continually recognized by our clients and the legal industry. In a recent survey* of Fortune 1000 corporate counsel, Foley received a top 10 ranking out of more than 500 firms for our strong client focus, breadth of service, innovation, and value for the dollar. In addition, Foley was a Top 10 firm on the U.S. News – Best Lawyers® 2010 “Best Law Firms” list, based on the total number of first-tier metropolitan rankings, and CIO magazine recognized Foley for technological innovation that enhances business value by naming the firm to its prestigious CIO-100 list.
*The BTI Consulting Group (Wellesley, Massachusetts)
About Evolution Media Capital
Evolution Media Capital, LLC (EMC) is an investment banking firm for the media and sports industries, formed as a partnership with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and offering investment advisory, asset management, industry research, and capital-raising services. In the media rights space, EMC provides a wide array of advisory services including strategic analysis, valuation and negotiation of media rights and regional sports network planning and operational strategy.
About Creative Artists Agency
Creative Artists Agency (CAA) is a full-service entertainment and sports agency that represents many of the most successful professionals working in film, television, music, video games, theatre, sports, and the Internet, and provides a range of strategic marketing and consulting services to corporate clients.