Donald Dell

Donald Dell, group president of Media, Tennis and Events for Lagardere Sports, is an attorney, former vice chairman of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and former professional tennis player. He co-teaches Professional Sports and the Law with Mark Levinstein.

Over the course of his career, as a sports attorney and agent, Dell has managed the careers of many professional athletes in tennis such as Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Tracy Austin and Gabriela Sabatini; in basketball, Michael Jordan, Ralph Sampson, James Worthy, Johnny Dawkins and Wally Walker.

Dell has developed some of the most significant and longest-lasting partnerships between sponsors and sports properties. He has negotiated nearly one billion dollars in sponsorships and endorsements throughout his illustrious career, including the 2001 FedEx Naming Rights deal with the Washington Redskins (“FedEx Field”), at the time, the largest in NFL history. He currently oversees and distributes many of Lagardere’s Sports Media’s properties including the French Open, the Citi Open, the Boston Marathon and Ivy League Football.

An active philanthropist, Dell as former vice chairman is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors and serves on the board of the Arthur Ashe Institute of Urban Health. After the creation and success of the Citi Open, Dell gave the event to the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation in 1969 and has assisted in raising more than $15 million for children’s tennis programs in the Washington D.C. area, though the tournament’s financial success over the years.

Dell also served as a trial lawyer with Hogan & Hartson and as a political aide to Robert F. Kennedy in his 1968 campaign. He attended Yale University, the University of Virginia Law School and received an Honorary Doctorate from St. John’s University.