Media & Entertainment Law

Catching up with Links

Posted on April 25, 2010
Here are some commentaries that I've been meaning to blog about over the last week and today found time to do so:* Over on Mergers and Acquisitions Law Prof Blog, Boston College Law Professor Brian JM Quinn has a terrific post on Stan Kroenke's bid to purchase the St...

Congratulations to the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law: First Issue Now Published

Posted on April 22, 2010
The first issue of the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law was just published today. We congratulate all of the folks who worked so hard to get an official sports and entertainment law journal at Harvard Law School. They include, among many others, our blog's founder, Greg Skidmore (a 2005 graduate of Harvard Law), Boston Celtics assistant general manager Mike Zarren (also a 2005 graduate), Professors Paul Weiler and Peter Carfagna, and current third-year student and Journal editor-in-chief Ashwin Krishnan, who recently received the Paul Weiler Award for excellence in sports and entertainment law...

Will Ben Roethlisberger's 6-Game Suspension Stand?

Posted on April 22, 2010
Yesterday, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger became the first NFL player suspended by Commissioner Roger Goodell who has not been charged or convicted of a crime. Whether this suspension will stand, however, depends upon how one interprets a few important clauses in the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement...

New Sports Law Scholarship

Posted on April 20, 2010
Recently published scholarship includes:Marc Bianchi, Comment, Guardian of amateurism or legal defiant? The dichotomous nature of NCAA men?s ice hockey regulation, 20 SETON HALL JOURNAL OF SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT LAW 165 (2010)Rhonda B. Evans, Recent development, ?Striking out?: the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 and Title II?s impact on professional sports employers, 11 NORTH CAROLINA JOURNAL OF LAW AND TECHNOLOGY 205 (2009) Gabriel Feldman, The puzzling persistence of the single-entity argument for sports leagues: American Needle and the Supreme Court?s opportunity to reject a flawed defense, 2009 WISCONSIN LAW REVIEW 835-916Megan Fuller, Note, Where?s the penalty flag? The unauthorized practice of law, the NCAA, and athletic compliance directors, 54 NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL LAW REVIEW 495 (2009/10)Christopher S...

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Panel on Doping at Florida Coastal

Posted on April 19, 2010
This Thursday at noon my law school is hosting a panel titled, Controlling the Use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports: How to Maintain Competitive Balance Without Destroying Due Process. The participants are (1) Josh Kane, Associate Counsel & Drug Testing Program Administrator at the LPGA (and Florida Coastal alum); (2) Andy Levinson, Executive Director of the Anti-Doping Program at the PGA TOUR; and (3) Travis Tygart, CEO, United States Anti-Doping Agency...

New NCAA regs and free speech

Posted on April 16, 2010
The NCAA announced several new rules today, two of which raise interesting questions if one (say, me) were to try to develop a rigorous conception of athlete free speech. (H/T: Rick). First, the NCAA toughened the penalties for taunting by making it, in some situations, a live-ball foul that would bring the ball back to the spot of the foul and might even negate a score...

City of Glendale Approves Reinsdorf Group?s Ownership Bid for Coyotes ? But Proposed Financing Scheme Creates Possibility of Legal Challenge

Posted on April 15, 2010
On Tuesday, the Glendale City Council approved a preliminary memorandum of understanding authored by the potential ownership group known as Glendale Hockey, LLC for the purchase of the Coyotes? assets from the National Hockey League. The group, headlined by sports magnate Jerry Reinsdorf, is supposedly viewed as the preferred ownership group to purchase the financially beleaguered franchise that the league bought out of bankruptcy in the latter part 2009...

Jet Fans' Spygate Suit Heard by Third Circuit

Posted on April 14, 2010
Can a patron sue based on the lack of quality or fairness of a match? Maybe yes.That question will be decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in the latest twist to the infamous "spygate" affair. As many recall, this tempest concerned the actions of New England Patriots' employee who videotaped the Jet's defensive signals...

Florida Coastal Sports Law Panel

Posted on April 13, 2010
This Friday morning, the Sports Law Society at my law school is hosting a panel titled, Exploitation of the Student-Athlete? Evaluating Bloom, Oliver, O'Bannon and Keller. While the title of the event speaks for itself, the panelists have, or have been, involved in high profile cases on behalf of amateur athletes and consist of: Rick Johnson, attorney for Andy Oliver and James Paxton; Jon King, lead attorney in the O'Bannon/Keller case; and MSU Law Professors Bob and Amy McCormick, who have written extensively on the commercialization of student-athletes and Bob served as a consultant in Maurice Clarett's lawsuit against the NFL...

Steelers - Personal Conduct Policy Update

Posted on April 10, 2010
Upon further research, I learned that the NFL currently has in place an internal policy to police NFL clubs for situations involving player discipline. So now the question becomes, not whether Commissioner Goodell can punish the Steelers, but, whether Goodell WILL punish the Steelers, and whether such action will remain private...

Fighting Sioux Retired

Posted on April 09, 2010
Following a North Dakota Supreme Court ruling yesterday, it appears that the University of North Dakota "Fighting Sioux" mascot/nickname/moniker is now officially retired. The North Dakota Board of Higher Education voted months ago to retire the highly controversial moniker, but had been blocked in its efforts to carry out its retirement decision by a lawsuit filed by members of the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe...

Benedict Alexander?

Posted on April 09, 2010
On March 6, 2010, boxing fans around the world bore witness to one of the most impressive junior welterweight title fight victories in recent memory, as undefeated Devon Alexander unified the WBC and IBF titles in devastating fashion by stopping Juan Urango in the eighth round live on HBO...

More MLB Collusion in 2010? Unions' Claims Keep Coming

Posted on April 08, 2010
On Tuesday morning, the Associated Press reported that the Major League Baseball Players Association may file a grievance against Major League Baseball club-owners for allegedly colluding in the market to sign free-agent players during the 2009-2010 off-season...

Should the NFL?s Personal Conduct Policy Also Apply to Franchise?

Posted on April 08, 2010
Several recent events have placed the Pittsburgh Steelers? upcoming season in serious peril. Before even a single down of football is played, the Steelers, one of the NFL?s most storied franchises, is facing the potential loss of two impact players: franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Super Bowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes...

New York High Court Limits Primary Assumption of Risk to Athletic Participation

Posted on April 07, 2010
Yesterday, the New York Court of Appeals (the state's highest court) published Trupia v. Lake George Central School District. The case involved a claim that of negligent supervision; plaintiff, a student, fell off a banister and sued his school district...

SLA and Sullivan & Worcester Panel: "American Needle, Case in Point: Is the NFL a single entity?"

Posted on April 07, 2010
I look forward to participating in this panel discussion on American Needle v. NFL and its potential impact on professional sports. The event, which will occur on Tuesday, April 28, is sponsored by the Sports Lawyers Association and Sullivan & Worcester, which will host the panel in its Boston office...

Yale Law School Panel on Sports and the Law: Current Issues

Posted on April 07, 2010
Next Tuesday, April 13th, Yale Law School will be hosting a panel discussion titled, "Sports and the Law: Current Issues."I am honored to be moderating the event, which has some terrific speakers. A wide-range of topics will be covered, including compensation for ex-college athletes and retired athletes; American Needle v...

The NFL and Workers' Compensation

Posted on April 06, 2010
Alan Schwarz of the New York Times offers an interesting story today regarding a workers' compensation claim recently filed in California by the wife of former NFL lineman Ralph Wenzel, effectively asserting that Wenzel developed dementia as a result of his eight year career in the NFL...

Traumatic Brain Injury Symposium at U Baltimore Law School

Posted on April 06, 2010
Professor Dionne Koller of the University of Baltimore School of Law passes along this announcement of what should be an engaging symposium on traumatic brain injuries in sports:The University of Baltimore School of Law and its Center for Sport and the Law is pleased to present Traumatic Brain Injury: Implications for Sport and Health on Thursday, April 22...

A Different Take on the Expansion of the NCAA Tournament to 96 Teams

Posted on April 05, 2010
While most of the college basketball fans in the country have been finalizing their "why I hate Duke" speeches, the NCAA continues to move towards expanding the tournament from 64 to 96 teams. The proposed expansion has been met with an avalanche of criticism...

NY Times Sell Portion of its Stake in Boston Red Sox

Posted on April 04, 2010
With the Red Sox playing the Yankees tonight at Fenway Park, it's a reminder that earlier this week, the New York Times sold a portion of its minority ownership stake in the Red Sox. Boston College Law Professor Brian Quinn discusses the sale on M&A Law Prof Blog.

International Sport Law & Business Conference (ISLBC) in Istanbul

Posted on April 04, 2010
Our friend Matt Mitten, a professor at Marquette University Law School and director of the National Sports Law Institute, will be speaking about American Needle v. NFL at the International Sport Law & Business Conference, to be held in Istanbul on September 6 and 7...

Introducing Guest Blogger Jeff Levine

Posted on April 02, 2010
We're pleased that Jeff Levine will be a guest blogger for the next two weeks. Along with his legal practice, Jeff currently serves as a staff writer for the Business of Sports Network. He is a graduate of Tulane University Law School, and previously served in legal positions with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Phoenix Coyotes...

Sports and politics, mixed

Posted on April 01, 2010
A recent study by National Media, Inc., a GOP firm (conducted by Scarborough USA, a joint project of Nielsen and Arbitron) found that dedicated sports fans tended to vote Republican than Democrat. The strongest Republican support was among fans of the PGA, college football, and NASCAR; strongest Democrat support was among fans of the NBA, WNBA, men's and women's tennis, and WWE (!)...

Next Up in Selig's Free Stadium Game: Tampa Bay?

Posted on April 01, 2010
They've got a dynamic offense, a great new closer, and a 2008 World Series birth under their belt. Next up for the Rays: a new stadium?According to the Tampa Bay Online, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig might involve himself in the stadium negotiations between Rays ownership and their municipality...

NASCAR Continues to Go its own Way

Posted on March 31, 2010
Just as the NHL and the other big 3 professional sports leagues continue to crack down on athlete misconduct on and off the field, NASCAR seems to be headed in the opposite direction. The NHL now forbids blindside hits to the head, and the NFL forbids almost any hit to the quarterback, but NASCAR has decided that it is permissible for one driver to intentionally crash his car into another driver during a race...

New Sports Law Scholarship

Posted on March 30, 2010
Recently published scholarship includes:Douglas E. Abrams, Sports in the courts: the role of sports references in judicial opinions, 17 VILLANOVA SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT LAW JOURNAL 1 (2010)Roger I. Abrams, Sports arbitration and enforcing promises: Brian Shaw and labor arbitration, 20 MARQUETTE SPORTS LAW REVIEW 223 (2009)Timothy S...

The Scope of MLB's Antitrust Exemption

Posted on March 30, 2010
With Major League Baseball's Opening Day less than a week away, I thought now would be an appropriate time to mention my new article considering the scope of MLB's antitrust exemption, Defining the 'Business of Baseball': A Proposed Framework for Determining the Scope of Professional Baseball's Antitrust Exemption, slated for publication later this year in the U...

Taxing professional athletes

Posted on March 29, 2010
The state of Tennessee last year enacted a Professional Privilege Tax on Professional Athletes, taxing home and visiting NBA and NHL players $ 2500 per game, up to three games. (H/T: Deadspin, via FIU student Wes Plympton). Detroit Red Wings Captain Brian Rafalski has objected to the tax, noting that seventeen teammates who make in the $ 500,000 range (minimum NHL salary) end up losing money on the days they play in Tennessee...

Institutional symbolic counter-speech

Posted on March 28, 2010
Sport represents the only occasion in which adults regularly participate in patriotic symbolic rituals and ceremonies, such as the singing of the national anthem. I have written a great deal about the free-speech liberty to engage in patriotic symbolic counter-speech--declining to participate or engage with the symbol or its associated rituals or otherwise using (or not using) the ritual to protest the symbol and its message...

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