Media & Entertainment Law

New Jersey Sports Betting Lawsuit Dismissed

Posted on March 15, 2011
The prospect of Vegas-style sports gambling in New Jersey took a hit on March 7, 2011 when Chief Judge Garrett E. Brown of the United States District Court of New Jersey dismissed a long-percolating federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Professional & Amateur Sports Protection Act (?PASPA?)...

Another take on NBA Referee Bill Spooner's Twitter-based Defamation Lawsuit

Posted on March 15, 2011
Howard has a great post on Bill Spooner's defamation lawsuit against the Associated Press and AP reporter Jon Krawczynski. Zach Lowe of Sports Illustrated has also written about the lawsuit and I offered him my thoughts on it. To read Zach's SI article, click here.

Rethinking the Role of Decertification in Sports Labor Disputes

Posted on March 14, 2011
One aspect of the recent decertification by the NFL Players? Association that I believe has (understandably) been somewhat overlooked is what the NFLPA?s decision tells us about the role that the threat of decertification plays in labor disputes between sports leagues and players? unions generally...

Should Zdeno Chara be Charged with a Crime?

Posted on March 11, 2011
If you haven't seen Boston Bruins defenseman and captain Zdeno Chara's hit on Montreal Canadian left wing Max Pacioretty from earlier this week in Montreal, here it is:Pacioretty, who was taken off the ice on a stretcher, suffered a fracture to the 4th cervical vertebra (which is in the middle of the neck) and a severe concussion...

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New Sports Illustrated Piece on NFL - NFLPA talks Collapsing, NFLPA Decertifiying, and What's Next

Posted on March 11, 2011
Unfortunately, the NFL - NFLPA negotiations have just ended in failure and the NFLPA filed for decertification minutes ago. The future for the two sides and NFL football is hazy, but on SI.com I offer one possible road map of what we might expect.

Sports Lawyers Association Conference Program

Posted on March 10, 2011
The program for the 37th Annual Sports Lawyers Association ("SLA") conference at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC is now posted. In addition to a number of interesting panels and breakout sessions, the SLA conference offers an ample amount of CLE credits for licensed/practicing attorneys...

Clock is ticking on NFL and NFLPA and Signs are Ominious

Posted on March 10, 2011
Things don't look good for the NFL and NFLPA with 28 hours to go till their deadline. They didn't even talk today, due to apparent misunderstandings about whether they were supposed to meet with federal mediator George Cohen. You would think they would approach these negotiations with a greater sense of urgency and would have found a way and time to bargain at some point today, but instead they apparently lost the day...

New Sports Illustrated video on Evidence implicating Barry Bonds

Posted on March 09, 2011
Do rather significant body changes experienced by Barry Bonds over the years prove that he used steroids? Is the testimony of non-medical people, like Bonds's former personal shopper, about medicines Bonds was using less persuasive because they lack scientific background or more persuasive because they speak in plain-spoken language? I talk about those and other issues with Maggie Gray of Sports Illustrated Video.

Harvard Law School -- 2011 Sports Law Symposium

Posted on March 09, 2011
Harvard?s Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law, with the leadership of Peter Carfagna, will host its 2011 Sports Law Symposium on Friday, March 25th on the campus of Harvard Law School.The symposium, free and open to the public, will focus on the legal and business issues surrounding intercollegiate athletics, and the overarching theme of the symposium is ?The Changing Face of Intercollegiate Athletics: Amateurs, Academics, and the Athletic Arms Race...

The Risks of Putting New York Out of Commission

Posted on March 08, 2011
Early last month, Michael Marley reported on Boxing Scene.com that Melvina Lathan, the distinguished Chairperson of the New York State Athletic Commission (the ?Commission?), is likely on her way out as a result of Governor Andrew Cuomo?s need to address New York State?s $10 billion budget deficit...

U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Spygate Case

Posted on March 07, 2011
ESPN.com is reporting that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari today in Mayer v. Belichick, the class action lawsuit resulting from the New England Patriots' 2007 "Spygate" controversy. The lawsuit alleged that by videotaping signals from the New York Jets' coaches, the Patriots had essentially rigged their contests versus the Jets and thus cheated fans out of millions of dollars...

NFL Players came within 5 minutes of decertifying last Thursday

Posted on March 07, 2011
Peter King and Jim Trotter have an excellent "behind-the-scenes" perspective on SI on what happened in last week's negotiation. Jim includes this passage:With only five minutes to go before the union's deadline to decertify last Thursday -- a move that might have obliterated the NFL as we know it today -- a player walked into the negotiating room that included commissioner Roger Goodell, league attorney Jeff Pash, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and union president Kevin Mawae and declared: "We're done! We're decertifying...

If the NFLPA ends up suing the NFL, should Tom Brady be the named plaintiff?

Posted on March 05, 2011
Marc Thaler of ESPN Boston considers that question.

MIT Sloan Sports Analytic Conference

Posted on March 05, 2011
As noted in this space recently, the 5th Annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference was held in Boston this weekend. The conference?s mission is ?to provide a forum for industry professionals (executives and leading researchers) and students to discuss the increasing role of analytics in the sports industry...

New Sports Illustrated Column: 10 Answers to 10 Big Questions on NFL Labor Crisis

Posted on March 03, 2011
Here's the link to my new SI column. Hope you have a chance to check it out. More later on this busy day.

New Sports Illustrated Column on Greg Anderson Going Back to Prison for Barry Bonds

Posted on March 02, 2011
I have a new SI column on Barry Bonds and yesterday's ruling that Greg Anderson -- the former trainer and incredibly/almost unbelievably loyal friend of Bonds -- will be going back to prison. Here's an excerpt:* * *Anderson is already familiar with the consequences of disregarding a court order...

New Joint Sports Illustrated and CBS News Investigation into Crime and College Football

Posted on March 02, 2011
Our cover story in this week's Sports Illustrated concerns a joint investigation by SI and CBS News on crime and college football. I had the honor of being part of this investigation, which we've conducted over the last 6 months.We looked at criminal backgrounds of 2,800+ collegiate players on SI's 2010 preseason Top 25...

DePaul's Friday Symposium on Compliance in Chicago

Posted on February 28, 2011
This Friday, the DePaul Journal of Sports Law and Contemporary Problems hosts "A Rule is a Rule: Compliance in the World of Sports." The presenters include Timothy Epstein, Marc Edelman, and myself. 2.75 hours of CLE is available for attorneys and a reduced rate admission is offered for law students from other area schools...

More Sports Law Links

Posted on February 28, 2011
As a follow-up to Mike's recent post with a number of sports law links, I wanted to provide a few more, as there have been a number of interesting developments in our field. 1. 60 Minutes ran a story on legendary Vegas-based sports gambler Billy Walters last month...

NFLPA Decertification -- Impact on Agents

Posted on February 28, 2011
With NFLPA decertification a strong possibility before the March 3rd deadline, most of our attention to the ramifications of this labor impasse has been directed towards owners and players. However, there is another segment of union representatives who also will be affected?agents...

Sunday Sports Law Links

Posted on February 27, 2011
* Mark Cuban wonders why more superstar U.S. teenage basketball players don't go play professionally in Europe, where players can be as young as 14 and earn lucrative contracts. The NBA, as we know, requires that U.S. players be 19-years-old and one-year removed from high school before they are eligible to play...

Traveling Violations

Posted on February 24, 2011
This week the University of Tennessee released the NCAA?s ?Notice of Allegations? against its football and men?s basketball team, outlining eleven violations. Both current men?s basketball coach Bruce Pearl and former (albeit brief) football coach Lane Kiffin were cited for multiple violations...

Peter Carfagna's Negotiating and Drafting Sports Venue Agreements

Posted on February 24, 2011
Our friend and colleague Peter Carfagna, who teaches sports law at Harvard Law School and has a long and storied career in the industry, has written his third sports law book: Negotiating and Drafting Sports Venue Agreements (West, 2011).His two other sports law books -- Sports and the Law: Examining the Legal Evolution of American's Three 'Major Leagues" (West, 2009) and Representing the Professional Athlete (West, 2009) -- are also excellent...

Sports Law Career Opportunity

Posted on February 23, 2011
The San Diego Padres are currently looking to hire an Associate General Counsel with 3-5 years of general corporate and transactional legal experience. For more information about the position, check out this post at AboveTheLaw, or view Position # 7921 at the recruiting website Lateral Link.

Circumventing MLB's Waiver Rules

Posted on February 22, 2011
As several media outlets are reporting, the Boston Red Sox included an unusual provision in their recent contract with left handed pitcher Andrew Miller (pictured), in an apparent, creative attempt to circumvent Major League Baseball's complex waiver rules...

NFL Labor Negotiations: Are We Headed for the Doomsday Scenario?

Posted on February 21, 2011
I have a new column up over at the Huffington Post that takes a closer look at what might happen as we get closer to a lockout in the NFL. Here is an excerpt. You can find the full column here? And, if you are looking for a summary of the major work stoppages in pro sports history, you can click here? ******** It's all a guessing game at this point, but what is the likelihood of an extended work stoppage? As we get closer to the expiration of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, the great unanswered questions remain: Will there be a work stoppage? And, if so, how long will it last? It's anyone's guess as to when the two sides will reach an agreement (and everyone is guessing), but looking back at the past is often a good way to predict the future...

Hunter Pence in the Final Arbitration Hearing of the Year

Posted on February 19, 2011
The Astros have won their past four arbitration hearings prior to Friday?s hearing with Hunter Pence. The Astros defeated Wandy Rodriguez last year and Mark Loretta and Jose Valverde in 2008. In 1997 they won against Darryl Kile. They last lost a hearing against Rick Wilkins in 1996...

What to do about accused athletes

Posted on February 18, 2011
FIU has decided to allow Garrett Wittels, its star baseball player who enters this season riding a 56-game hitting streak (three shy of breaking the college record), to play to start the season, despite Wittels facing sexual assault allegations in the Bahamas...

Salary Arbitration Nearing the End for 2011

Posted on February 18, 2011
With the Hunter Pence-Astros hearing set for today, the last day for hearings, and the two recent multiyear deals signed by Rickie Weeks and Jose Bautista, the 2011 arbitration season is nearly over. Thirty-four teams and players exchanged figures according to my research...

The 2011 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

Posted on February 18, 2011
The premier sports business and sports industry event each year is the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, which is held in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.The event this year will be held on two days - March 4 and 5 -- and will feature such speakers as author Malcolm Gladwell, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Patriots CEO Jonathan Kraft, Maple Leafs President Brian Burke, and ESPN NBA analyst and former head coach Jeff Van Gundy, among many others...

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