Partner
Herrick, Feinstein LLP

Daniel A. Etna is a partner in Herrick’s Corporate Department. He plays a primary role in deal-making negotiations, including strategizing, structuring and drafting. Dan concentrates his practice in the following areas:

Mergers & Acquisitions - including public and private company mergers, leveraged and non-leveraged equity and asset acquisitions and dispositions, troubled company restructurings and reorganizations, friendly and hostile tender offers and proxy contests, joint ventures and going private transactions.

Corporate Finance - including public offerings and private placements (PIPEs and otherwise) of debt and equity securities, issuer exchange and tender offers, multi-layered bank financings, sale/leasebacks of aircraft and other capital equipment, distressed bank debt trading and venture capital investments.

Commercial/Biotechnology Contracts - including licensing, distribution, marketing, co-branding, supply, technology transfer, and collaborative research and development agreements.

General Corporate Representation - including employment, severance and consulting agreements, stock option and other types of incentive and executive compensation plans, corporate governance issues, SEC compliance and reporting issues and general corporate advice.

Dan is the co-editor of Herrick’s Corporate Alert, a monthly newsletter covering trends, cases of interest and legal developments in corporate law.

Sports Law
Dan, who was named a top sports lawyer in the 2016 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, also has a significant sports law practice spanning a wide range of complex transactional matters. He regularly advises professional sports franchises in connection with stadium financings and construction, minor league team acquisitions and relocations, team ownership transfers, Internet/new media, cable television and radio contracts, naming rights agreements, non-relocation agreements, concession service agreements, credit facilities, joint ventures, memorabilia sales agreements, and advertising and sponsorship contracts.

He also advises former and current NBA All-Star and NFL All-Pro players in connection with their private equity investment activities.

Dan has played a key role on many of the sports industry’s transformative concepts, including the ground-breaking partnership between the New York Yankees and New Jersey Nets (YankeeNets LLC), the creation of the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES), and the formation of Legends Hospitality, an innovative joint venture between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees.

In 2012 and 2014, Dan advised the New York Yankees and Yankee Global Enterprises in one of the largest M&A deals of both years – News Corp’s acquisition of 49 percent of YES, and 21st Century Fox’s ensuing 2014 acquisition, which raised its ownership stake in YES to 80 percent.

Recently, Dan advised on the joint venture formation of Major League Soccer’s New York City Football Club, its radio rights deal, and negotiations for the financing and development of a new soccer stadium. He also advised the Tampa Bay Lightning on the naming rights transaction for Tampa’s Amalie Arena, and the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees in their most recent radio rights agreements. Recently he also advised the purchaser of Minor League Baseball’s Lexington Legends, a deal which included the acquisition of the team’s home stadium – Whitaker Bank Ballpark.

Recent News
Dan frequently lectures on a variety of private and public company topics, as well as those relating to sports law. He has also appeared on national television and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, The Deal, Sports Business Journal and other major newspapers and magazines. For a full list of recent media mentions, click here.