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O’Melveny Sports Partners Profiled in Variety’s ‘Dealmakers Elite New York’

NEW YORK, NY—September 28, 2017—O’Melveny partners Chuck Baker, Jared Bartie, and Irwin Raij have been selected for the inaugural edition of Variety’s “Dealmakers Elite New York,” which spotlights east coast “power players” behind the most significant deals impacting the entertainment industry from the past year. In a special feature, published September 26, 2017, Variety profiled the trio, who each joined O’Melveny’s Sports Industry Group in New York earlier this year, further expanding the firm’s preeminent Entertainment, Sports, and Media Practice. 

In the article, Variety notes that Baker, who was the first of the three to join O’Melveny in January 2017, serves as co-chair of the firm’s Sports Industry Group and advises on “sports team-sales transactions, including private equity investors buying control of the MLS team in Los Angeles.” 

Bartie spoke with Variety regarding the rise of e-sports, which he said he finds “fascinating” for its audience demographic. “There’s a global and tech-savvy fan base often made up of cord-cutters and cord-nevers,” Bartie said, which means that understanding the universe of alternative content distribution platforms is important. 

Raij, who also serves as co-chair of the Group, discussed the impact of incorporating new technology into sports complexes. “Technology is a double-edged sword” with upfront costs, he said, but ultimately“lowers operating costs and collects valuable fan data.”