On the soccer field, Atlanta United went from expansion startup to Major League Soccer champions in two years. But the behind the scenes, the legal work supporting the team has been going on much longer. 

For Mike Egan, senior vice president and general counsel at AMB Group, the work began when he was still a partner at King & Spalding, where he worked closely with The Home Depot's co-founder Arthur Blank for several years before going in-house in January 2015.

AMB Group is the holding company for Blank's for-profit businesses, which include, in addition to Atlanta United, the city's NFL team the Falcons and the Mercedes-Benz Stadium that is home to both professional teams.

In an interview with Corporate Counsel, Egan said that negotiations over the expansion agreement with the MLS began in April 2014, followed by the sometimes contentious series of events related to where the training ground would be located. (The team abandoned a DeKalb County site because of contaminated soil before ending up in the city of Marietta.)   

Late 2016 brought the “curveball” that the new stadium would not be ready in time for the start of the season, so Egan said he had to “scramble” to negotiate with Georgia Institute of Technology over the use of its facility.

“Along the way we're also putting agreements with the coaches, and all the sponsorship agreements, in place and watching who the key upfront sponsors of the team would be,” he recalled. “It was a pretty intense five years in terms of legal activity.”

But it was a  process, Egan said, that culminated on the night of Dec. 8, when the team won the MLS Cup. He described the days following the championship win as “a blur and a dream all at the same time.”

What the popularity of Atlanta United, not only locally but nationally and globally, “says about Atlanta and its diversity and the passion of the generally youthful fan base is a big plus for the city,” he said. “We had pretty aggressive projections about season ticket sales, but you can't predict passion. We would have to admit that the level of passion and enthusiasm for this team and the sport of soccer surprised even us for sure.”

In the wake of this popularity and success, Egan said there is increased pressure on the trademark front, including the need to police sponsors to ensure they are in compliance with their contracts. Following the championship, Egan said he also worked closely with the Atlanta Police Department and Georgia World Congress Center to facilitate safety and security during the team's victory parade through downtown Atlanta last Monday.    

On a day-to-day basis, though, Egan's United-related work may not be too different from other top in-house lawyers. He said he regularly deals with data privacy issues related to players' performance data, trademark matters and agreements with founding partners. He also negotiates local TV and radio agreements.

That area of work, Egan added, is different from his work for the Falcons, since the NFL contracts with the major networks for broadcast rights. Another major difference is that the Falcons players negotiate their contracts directly with the team, while Atlanta United players, who are employed by the MLS, negotiate with the league.

And, when you're talking about championship games and differences between Atlanta United and the Falcons, it's hard not to ask their top lawyer the obvious. Egan responds with a chuckle:

“The endings were very different, but the feelings and the emotions and the way they united the city were very similar.”