Media & Entertainment Law

Warren Zola article in Boston Globe Magazine

Posted on May 20, 2013
Warren Zola has an outstanding and provocative piece in this past Sunday's Boston Globe Magazine arguing that college athletes should be paid.  Be sure to check it out.

"Pros or Cons" Thoughts For The Modern "Sports Attorney" - Part V

Posted on May 18, 2013
Sports Law Blog is publishing a 5-part series on the practice of sports law.  The series is co-authored by Peter Jarvis, a legal ethics and professional responsibility attorney with Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP in Portland, Oregon and Jason Davis, a California attorney currently residing in Seattle, Washington...

Sports Illustrated: The 15 Most Influential Sports Agents

Posted on May 14, 2013
For Sports Illustrated, I write and discuss who I consider to be the 15 Most Influential Sports Agents. Here's my entry for Scott Boras, #2:2. Scott BorasBoras Corporation President 60 years old You know you've made it when teams' personnel decisions are shaped by whether players have you as their agent...

"Pros or Cons" Thoughts For The Modern "Sports Attorney" - Part IV

Posted on May 11, 2013
Sports Law Blog is publishing a 5-part series on the practice of sports law.  The series is co-authored by Peter Jarvis, a legal ethics and professional responsibility attorney with Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP in Portland, Oregon and Jason Davis, a California attorney currently residing in Seattle, Washington...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Legal Analysis of Vijay Singh v. PGA Tour

Posted on May 09, 2013
I have an article for Golf.com on Vijay Singh's lawsuit against the PGA Tour over his would-be suspension for using deer antler spray (which he admitted to in a Sports Illustrated story by David Epstein and George Dohrmann).Here's an excerpt of my article:He also takes sharp aim at what he portrays as a disingenuous right to appeal the suspension...

Sports, video, and procedural rules

Posted on May 09, 2013
This story captures why people like me like using sports to illustrate legal ideas. 1) The umpires went to video review of a disputed non-Home Run call. And despite everyone (including the opposing team's announcers) believing the ball was a home run, the umps upheld the call...

O'Bannon Case Update: Discovery

Posted on May 09, 2013
The O'Bannon v NCAA case crawls along.  Presently the courts are trying to determine the scope of discovery leading up to the trial itself.  There was a hearing yesterday (May 8th) in San Francisco before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins, in part, to determine from whom the plaintiffs would be allowed to take depositions...

Ending home-game blackouts?

Posted on May 09, 2013
Introducing legislation is easy, enacting it is hard. So an all likelihood this is not going anywhere. John McCain today introduced the Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013, which primarily would allow cable companies to offer channels a la carte, rather than exclusively in packages...

Flood v. Kuhn Reenactment

Posted on May 07, 2013
Readers in the Washington, D.C. area may be interested in attending an upcoming event organized by the Supreme Court Historical Society where the oral argument from the 1972 Supreme Court case of Flood v. Kuhn -- affirming baseball's historic exemption from antitrust law -- will be reenacted...

Additional Thoughts on the Economics of College Athletics

Posted on May 06, 2013
To follow up on Warren's and Rick?s informative posts, I thought I?d add a couple of somewhat countervailing thoughts to the discussion (I haven't had a chance to fully digest the expert reports linked to in Warren's post, so some of these points may be addressed in those filings)...

The truth about past relationships

Posted on May 06, 2013
NBA player Jason Collins famously came out as gay last week, the first active player in a major U.S. team sport to do so. The reaction was the expected mixed bag. One mini firestorm erupted over comments by media critic Howard Kurtz, who chastised Collins for not owning up to his having been engaged to a woman...

"Pros or Cons" Thoughts For The Modern "Sports Attorney" - Part III

Posted on May 04, 2013
Sports Law Blog is publishing a 5-part series on the practice of sports law.  The series is co-authored by Seattle-based sports attorney Jason Davis and attorney Peter Jarvis, an expert in professional responsibility and the law at Hinshaw and Culbertson in Portland, Oregon...

Comparing the Economic Investment and Incentive of Universities and Professional Teams in the Context of Licensing Broadcast Rights

Posted on May 03, 2013
Furthering the discussion of the topic of Warren's post yesterday, the economics of college athletics calls into question the exclusive right of universities, conferences and the NCAA to sell and license the broadcast rights...

Legal Perspectives on Morals Clauses and Endorsement Agreements

Posted on May 02, 2013
Reprinted with permission from The Delaney Report Endorsement Agreements and the ?Morals Clause?Most endorsement agreements in which a company pays an athlete (or celebrity) to promote its products or services contain a ?morals clause.? A morals clause allows a company to terminate, or otherwise take some corrective action against, an endorser who is tarnishing the company?s reputation based on some ?immoral? conduct...

The Economics of College Athletics

Posted on May 02, 2013
As the O'Bannon v NCAA litigation progresses, ever so slowly, through our legal system, there is one defense that gets tossed around quite a bit--very few football or men's basketball programs actually make money.  The argument, ergo, is that schools would be unable to compensate these athletes their fair market value without jeopardizing the existence of their entire athletic departments...

Junior Seau, Head Trauma, and the NFLs Concussion Problem

Posted on May 01, 2013
Junior Seau (photo courtesy of Dave Sizer/Creative Common)Junior Seau's suicide last year traumatized a family, a community, and a nation.  Recently emerging evidence indicates that Seau suffered from severe brain damage in the years that preceded his death...

Boston Business Breakfast on Sports Law this Thursday

Posted on April 30, 2013
I look forward to giving a talk at the Harvard Club in Boston this Thursday at 7:30 am.  It is for my alma mater, St. John's Prep, which I'm proud to say is also the alma mater of Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly (Class of 1979) and Penn State head football coach Bill O'Brien (Class of 1988)...

NBA player comes out--Now what?

Posted on April 29, 2013
Sports Illustrated has the story of Jason Collins, a Stanford grad, 12-year NBA veteran, and current free agent (he spent the past year with the Celtics and Wizards) coming out publicly (he came out to his family last summer). Submitted without comment, other than to not that while this is not a star player in the prime of his career, it is a big step in that direction.

"Pros or Cons" Thoughts For The Modern "Sports Attorney" - Part II

Posted on April 27, 2013
Sports Law Blog is publishing a 5-part series on the practice of sports law.  The series is co-authored by Seattle-based sports attorney Jason Davis and attorney Peter Jarvis, an expert in professional responsibility and the law at Hinshaw and Culbertson in Portland, Oregon...

The False Claims Act Complaints Against Lance Armstrong

Posted on April 25, 2013
The government this week filed its complaint in the False Claims Act case against Lance Armstrong.  The US annouced it would be joining the lawsuit, filed by "whistleblower" Floyd Landis, back in February.The government's complaint is available here...

"Pros or Cons" Thoughts For the Modern "Sports Attorney" - Part I

Posted on April 20, 2013
Sports Law Blog will be publishing a 5-part series on the practice of sports law.  The series is co-authored by Seattle-based sports attorney Jason Davis and attorney Peter Jarvis, an expert in professional responsibility and the law at Hinshaw and Culbertson in Portland, Oregon...

Why fan speech matters

Posted on April 18, 2013
If you want proof that sports fan speech matters, that it has strong political content, and that the stands of sporting events are a site of genuine First Amendment activity, look no further than last night's Boston Bruins game, the first game played in Boston since the Marathon bombing...

Tax implications of Olympic prize money

Posted on April 15, 2013
In honor of tax day,some sports law reading to accompany your free Cinnabon - Kahtryn Kisska-Schulze (NC A&T) and Adam Epstein (Central Michigan) recently posted Taxing Missy: Operation Gold and the 2012 Proposed Olympic Tax Elimination Act...

NCAA: Choosing the Interests of Coaches (Revenue) Over Students Yet Again

Posted on April 15, 2013
For years you have heard my ranting about the preposterous NCAA rules related to the ability of college athletes in men's basketball to properly evaluate their prospects in deciding to enter the NBA draft and forgo college eligibility.  Two years ago I wrote this piece in Huffington Post entitled "Transitioning From the NCAA to the NBA: Time for a Change in the Rules" that turned into this law review article in the Harvard Law School's Journal on Sports & Entertainment Law...

American Indian Mascots Continue to Divide

Posted on April 13, 2013
Moni Basu at CNN has just written yet another "take" on the American Indian mascot conundrum.  In Native American Mascots: Pride or Prejudice?" Basu interviews Suzan Shown Harjo who brought the now famous case Harjo v. Pro Football, Inc., attempting to have the trademark for the "Washington Redskins" canceled because it is offensive, derogatory, and contemptible...

Rethinking the Origin and Preservation of Baseball's Antitrust Exemption

Posted on April 12, 2013
Why was Baseball granted an exemption from Section 1 of the Sherman Act, and why did it last in its entirety so long - until the Curt Flood Act of 1998?  On Concurring Opinions, Aaron Zelinsky (who I believe is the first U.S. Supreme Court clerk and Sports Law scholar) has a terrific two-part series (Part 1, Part 2) that addresses the question and also reviews a new book by Stuart Banner on the topic, The Baseball Trust: A History of Baseball's Antitrust Exemption.

Baseball's Antitrust Exemption in the News

Posted on April 09, 2013
Baseball's antitrust exemption has recently been the focus of two unrelated news stories.  First, in the continuing saga of the Oakland Athletics' attempted move to San Jose (see earlier Sports Law Blog posts from 2009 and 2012, respectively, for more background), San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed sent a letter to MLB commissioner Bud Selig on Tuesday requesting a meeting to discuss the A's proposed relocation...

Miami Marlins and Free Speech

Posted on April 09, 2013
Leave it to the Marlins to be the team that might actually test my theories on fan expression. Could there be a better example of a ballpark that is publicly funded even if not publicly owned and thus still bound by First Amendment limits?I am attending tonight's game with a friend; I'll have to keep my eyes open.

Dark Days for the Scarlet Knights

Posted on April 07, 2013
The Rutgers scandal is as much about this burgeoning field of sports law as it is about anything?but not in a good way. It is about University officials and their lawyers not doing their job well and being caught up in the same critical mistake that seems to scar all the wrong decisions that lead to these scandals in the first place: allowing the money that flows through the leagues, teams and their stars to color what is right and wrong...

Private Prison Company Stadium Naming Deal Fails

Posted on April 06, 2013
Rendering of how GEO Group Stadium would have appearedWhen the GEO Group and Florida Atlantic University agreed to a $6 million football stadium naming deal in February 2013, neither GEO CEO George Zoley or FAU President Mary Saunders anticipated the incredible backlash that descended upon the private for-profit prison company (GEO) and the University...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.