Meet the Lawyers Bringing Legendary Soccer Icon Messi to Miami

Soccer superstar Lionel Messi prepares to suit up for Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami CF this week in one of the most high-profile moves ever in the sporting space—and it took lawyers from all over the world to make it happen.

“I’m a soccer fanatic, so this was one of those rare instances where personal passions and interests align with the professional,” said Mark Kurtenbach, an ex-college soccer player and corporate and finance partner at Hogan Lovells.

Kurtenbach worked with a team from the firm that counseled Miami Beckham United LLC, the entity that controls Inter Miami, in courting Messi.

“Hopefully it’s the beginning of a successful, long-term partnership between Lionel Messi, Inter Miami, David Beckham, and everyone else,” said Kurtenbach, who worked on the deal with fellow Denver-based corporate partner Christopher Weigand and tax partner Mark Weinstein in New York.

Messi, a seven-time Ballon d’Or winner—the prize given each year to the world’s best soccer player—was represented by prominent Spanish sports lawyer Jorge Pecourt and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Proskauer Rose, which helped bring UK soccer superstar Beckham into MLS nearly two decades ago, advised the New York-based league.

A source briefed on the matter confirmed to Bloomberg Law the legal lineups for all parties. The details of the deal bringing Messi to Miami remain unclear but the transaction furthers Beckham’s bid to turn Miami into a hub for global soccer. The Argentine-born Messi, now poised to take the pitch July 21, had earlier spurned a big money offer from Saudi Arabia.

MLS sponsors Adidas AG and Apple Inc.—whose streaming service broadcasts league games—were part of the financing package that led Messi to South Florida. MLS commissioner Don Garber, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, acknowledged the “enormous amount of money” Messi will receive, as well as the “massive financial opportunity” he provides the league and its partners.

Hogan’s Trifecta

Messi’s move is the third major sports deal that Hogan Lovells handled in the past year, coming on the heels of the firm advising Apollo Global Management Inc. co-founder Josh Harris on his $6 billion buy of the National Football League’s Washington Commanders and a group led by S. Robson Walton of Walmart Inc. fame on his $5 billion acquisition of the NFL’s Denver Broncos.

Kurtenbach and Weinstein previously worked on a recapitalization of Inter Miami in 2021 that bought out Beckham’s former co-owners, SoftBank Group Corp. billionaire Masayoshi Son and his ex-deputy, Bolivian businessman Marcelo Claure. Hogan Lovells is also handling various aspects related to the development of Miami Freedom Park, a real estate project that includes a new soccer-specific stadium for Inter Miami tentatively slated to open by 2025.

Inter Miami also leaned on an in-house team led by general counsel Pablo Alvarez and vice president of legal and human resources Brandon Briggs, who joined the club in 2021 after a half-dozen years with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. Alvarez is a longtime executive at MasTec Inc., a Coral Gables, Fla.-based construction and infrastructure engineering company controlled by Inter Miami’s majority owners, brothers Jorge and Jose Mas. Inter Miami hired another in-house counsel, Genna Selesnick, last year from the US Tennis Association.

Leo’s Lawyers

Pecourt was Messi’s primary lawyer in moving to MLS from Paris-Saint Germain FC, his most recent team. Pecourt previously helped Messi sign with the French team in 2021 after extricating him from FC Barcelona, his home for 21 years.

Pecourt started his own Barcelona-based firm, Portamento Sports, in late 2020 after leaving the partnership at Spanish legal giant Cuatrecasas. The latter parted ways with Pecourt that year over his work advising Messi, whose split with Barcelona reportedly led the storied soccer club to cut ties with Cuatrecasas.

Cuatrecasas didn’t respond to a request for comment about the matter. Pecourt, in a brief email to Bloomberg Law, confirmed he’s continued to be “legal counsel” to Messi. Skadden capital markets partner Alejandro González Lazzeri and corporate partner Thad Hartmann, both based in New York, were US counsel to Messi on his Miami move. Hartmann specializes in sports, media, and entertainment deals, all of which were part of the Messi negotiations.

Proskauer Goals

Since Beckham joined the league as a player, MLS has more than doubled in size.

The league currently has 29 franchises and in May announced an MLS record $500 million deal awarding a 30th team that will play in San Diego to Egyptian businessman Mohamed Mansour and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.

Proskauer, which worked on that deal and helped sign Beckham in 2007, once again advised the league on the Messi matter through corporate and sports law partners Jon Oram and Jason Krochak, as well as tax head Amanda Nussbaum.

For MLS, the money continues to flow amid rising franchise valuations, with the league recently considering whether to allow sovereign wealth funds to invest in teams, according to Bloomberg News.