Sports+

Cooley represents Big League Advantage (BLA), an investment firm that provides funding to minor league baseball players. If the players do not make it to Major League Baseball (MLB), they owe nothing; if they do make it, they owe BLA a percentage of their professional baseball earnings. BLA entered into a contract with then-minor league player Fernando Tatis Jr. After Tatis made it to MLB and ultimately signed a $360 million contract with the San Diego Padres, he ceased making payments to BLA. BLA prevailed in arbitration and moved to confirm the arbitral award, including attorneys’ fees, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Seeking to avoid the award, Tatis subsequently brought claims against BLA in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Diego alleging the contract was invalid. Cooley is defending BLA in this matter as well.

The Cooley team is led by Luke Cadigan and Mike Attanasio and includes Rona Proper and Amanda Jereige.

Cooley is defending the collegiate athletics Pac-12 conference in a series of high-profile antitrust class actions involving the compensation of student-athletes for their name, image and likeness. Cooley has represented the Pac-12 throughout the highly complex class settlement process in these cases, which continue to impact university athletic departments, student-athletes and the entire landscape of collegiate sports.

The Cooley team is led by partners Whitty Somvichian, Mike Sheetz and Mark Lambert and also includes special counsel Ashley Corkery and associate Greg Merchant.