Sidley is advising Ariel Investments, LLC (Ariel), the first and oldest Black-owned mutual fund company in the United States, in connection with its formation and launch of Project Level, a new private investment fund built to “level the playing field” through investment in women’s sports. The new fund, which was announced on January 30, 2025, is being led by Mellody Hobson, Ariel’s Co-CEO and President, Jason Wright, the former President of the National Football League’s (NFL) Washington Commanders, who will serve as Project Level’s Managing Partner & Head of Investments, and Emma Rodriguez-Ayala, Ariel’s Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel. Project Level intends to capitalize on the underappreciated growth and value embedded in women’s sports today through a highly curated portfolio of professional and emerging sports teams and leagues, junior and college sports opportunities and related businesses that directly benefit from the global expansion of women’s sports.

Sidley is also advising Project Level in connection with its initial investment in the National Women’s Soccer League’s (NWSL) recently announced Denver, Colorado-based expansion team, which will become NWSL’s 16th franchise when it begins play in 2026. The ownership group for the new team, which will become the first women’s professional sports team in a major national league to call the “Mile High City” home, is being led by Rob Cohen, the Chairman and CEO of IMA Financial Group, Inc., who will serve as the team’s Controlling Owner and Governor. Project Level will be the lead minority investor in the Cohen-led ownership group and Hobson will serve as the team’s Alternative Governor. The ownership group aims to create a world-class soccer franchise that will inspire and empower women and girls, celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion and contribute to the social and economic development of the Denver community.

In 2022, Hobson made sports history as one of the first Black owners in the NFL when she joined the Denver Broncos’ Walton-Penner family ownership group. She is also an owner of the Chicago White Sox, the Women’s National Basketball Association and League One Volleyball. In 2021, Hobson co-founded Ariel’s first private equity venture, Ariel Alternatives, LLC – its inaugural US$1.45 billion fund, Project Black, scales sustainable minority-owned businesses to fuel Fortune 500 supply chain diversity.

The Sidley team advising Ariel and Project Level is being led by Boston partner, Elizabeth Shea Fries, who is the global leader of the firm’s market-leading Investment Funds practice, managing partner of the firm’s Boston office and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, and New York partner, Charles (Chuck) Baker, who is the co-chair of the firm’s market-leading Entertainment, Sports and Media (ESM) industry group, together with Century City partner, Eric Geffner (ESM), New York partner Patrick Michel (Investment Funds), and Century City managing associate, Luisa Lizoain (ESM). The multi-disciplinary Sidley team also includes Chicago managing associate, Ellen Murphy (Investment Funds), Century City associate, Celine Ang (M&A and Private Equity), Palo Alto partner, Rachel Kleinberg (Tax), Los Angeles senior managing associate, Jonathan Westreich (Tax), and Chicago partner, Matthew Stoker (M&A and Private Equity).