King & Spalding advised Drayton McLane, Jr., and the Houston Astros Baseball Club in its sale to a group headed by Houston businessman Jim Crane, chief executive officer of private equity fund Crane Capital. The sale of the baseball franchise will be finalized once it is approved by Major League Baseball ownership.

Included in the sale is the Astros’ share in Comcast Sports Net Houston, a new regional sports network that will begin airing NBA’s Houston Rockets games in 2012 and Astros games in the 2013 season.

For more information about this transaction, click here.

The Houston Astros have been owned since 1992 by McLane. During his tenure as chairman and chief executive officer of the ball club, the Astros have had their most successful run in franchise history, posting the fourth-best record in the National League while making six post-season appearances. In 2005, the Astros won the National League Championship, and on October 25 of that season, played host to the first World Series game ever played in the state of Texas.

A cross-office King & Spalding legal team representing the Astros in this deal was led by Houston corporate partner John L. Keffer and consisted of the following lawyers and consultant:

Corporate
Jaron R. Brown, partner (Atlanta)
Monika Roth, associate (New York)
William A. “Pete” Musgrove, counsel (Houston)
Archie Fallon, associate (Houston)

Finance
Margaret E. “Peggy” O’Neil, partner (New York)

Tax
L. Wayne Pressgrove, partner (Atlanta)

Employee Benefits
Eleanor Banister, partner (Atlanta)
Donna W. Edwards, counsel (Atlanta)
James Cowles, consultant (Atlanta)

Real Estate
Peter M. Oxman, partner (Houston)

Intellectual Property
Robert T. Neufeld, counsel (Atlanta)
Craig Stone, associate (Houston)

Antitrust
Brian R. Meiners, associate (Washington)
Kathleen A. Ball, associate (Washington)

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