Media & Entertainment Law

The Give Blog

Posted on November 28, 2009
University of Illinois Law Professor Suja Thomas, who teaches sports law, and her husband Scott have created the Give Blog, where up until December 24th they will match donations of up to $100 from new donors to five charities (The Hunger Project, The Grameen Foundation, Safe Passage, Catcholic Charities USA, and Eastern Illinois Foodbank)...

2010 AALS Sports and the Law Section Meeting and Panel

Posted on November 24, 2009
For those of you attending the Association of American Law Schools' 2010 annual meeting in New Orleans in January, Villanova Law Professor David Caudill, the Chair of the AALS Section on Sports and the Law, invites you to attend this year's section meeting and panel, which will be held from 1:30 to 3:15 p...

The Free Agents and Important December Deadlines

Posted on November 23, 2009
Last week, 171 players filed for free agency by the November 19 deadline. Of that group, there are 23 Type A free agents and 49 Type B free agents. John Grabow, a Type A free agent, and the Chicago Cubs have already agreed to a new 2-year, $7,500,000 deal...

Journalism Ethics Run Amuck, Once Again

Posted on November 21, 2009
The Associated Press published a story yesterday on a very tragic, sensitive and private matter involving the death of a famous professional athlete's mother. The report not only discusses details surrounding the death, but also personal information about the player's relationship with his mother...

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Professor Alfred Yen on Efforts by Colleges to Discourage Disappointing High School Recruits from Enrolling

Posted on November 20, 2009
Over on Madisonian.net, Boston College Law School Professor Alfred Yen has a thought-provoking piece on Duke basketball recruit and high school senior Clair Watkins, who, as a junior, Duke University offered a full scholarship to play (and enroll) at Duke...

Reebok files its Brief in American Needle v. NFL

Posted on November 19, 2009
This past Tuesday was the deadline for the respondents in American Needle v. NFL to file their briefs with the United States Supreme Court. Although the NFL's brief is not yet publicly available, the brief submitted by Reebok, the NFL's co-defendant in the case, is now available to be downloaded...

Commissioner as Justice or Executive? Thoughts on Zelinsky

Posted on November 17, 2009
Mike already mentioned Aaron Zelinsky's new essay (forthcoming in Yale Law Journal Online) arguing that the better baseball analogy is between Supreme Court justices and the baseball commissioner. Aaron sent me a draft of the paper and I made a few comments; he gave me permission to reprint them (in much expanded form) here...

The dangers of consequentialism

Posted on November 16, 2009
Everyone is talking about Bill Belichek's decision to go for it on 4th-and-2 from the Pats' own 28 with around two minutes left (sorry Mike). And most people (including the NBC commentators speaking three-and-a-half minutes after the game) have concluded it was a bad decision...

Aaron Zelinsky on Benching the Judge-Umpire Analogy

Posted on November 15, 2009
Aaron Zelinsky of Yale Law School has just posted on SSRN a draft of his forthcoming piece in Yale Law Journal Online titled "The Justice as Commissioner: Benching the Judge-Umpire Analogy". It's an excellent read. Zelinsky traces the judicial history of the judge-umpire analogy since 1886, concluding that it was intended for trial court judges, and meant as a model to be rejected because of an umpire's passivity...

Boise State Athletic Department Selling Stock

Posted on November 12, 2009
USA Today is reporting today that Boise State has officially formed a non-profit corporation and will begin selling shares to the public at $100 per share in hopes of raising $20 million (Boise State Athletic Department Hopes Stock Offering Raises $20 Million)...

University Presidents are Not "Powerless" to Control Coaches' Salaries

Posted on November 10, 2009
USA Today's latest study released today on college coaches' compensation reveals that at least 25 college head football coaches are making $2 million or more this season, which is slightly more than double the number two years ago, and the average pay for a head coach in the 120-school Football Bowl Subdivision is up 28% in that time and up 46% in three years, to $1...

Follow-up on Buster Olney - Hardy, Hermida, Teahan

Posted on November 09, 2009
After posting last week about Buster Olney?s article and comments about arbitration-eligible players and free agents, the Twins traded Carlos Gomez to the Brewers for J.J. Hardy; the Red Sox traded Jose Alvarez and Hunter Jones to the Marlins for Jeremy Hermida; and the White Sox acquired Mark Teahen for Chris Getz and Josh Fields...

Tulane Law School Baseball Arbitration Competition

Posted on November 06, 2009
I am proud to announce that the Tulane Law School Sports Law Society will be hosting its third annual National Baseball Arbitration Competition from January 22-24, 2010. This is a really great and unique event that allows students to argue a baseball arbitration case involving real players and real statistics...

The Changing Landscape of Salary Arbitration-Eligible Players and Free Agents in Baseball

Posted on November 06, 2009
With the Yankees winning the World Series last night, the off-season officially began this morning. The clock starts ticking on the free agent filing period of 15 days after the end of the World Series. Buster Olney appeared on Mike and Mike on ESPN this morning...

Legal Fallout from Phoenix Coyotes - NHL Saga

Posted on November 06, 2009
Over on the American Lawyer Daily, Zach Lowe has a good piece on the legal fallout of the Phoenix Coyotes likely sale to the NHL. He interviews me for his story, and I tie-in the American Needle case. Here's an excerpt:The [NHL] apparently doesn't want the Coyotes for long, and they are already in talks to sell the team to an investment group represented by Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft ...

Referees Injured by Tortious or Criminal Behavior of Players

Posted on November 06, 2009
Victoria E. Freile and Claudia Vargas of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle have an interesting piece on a sports law topic that we often don't discuss: referees injured by the tortious or criminal behavior of players. They focus on a recent incident in an adult amateur football game played in Rochester which generated a felony charge for a player...

Peter Carfagna's New Sports Law Books

Posted on November 05, 2009
There are a number of terrific sports law case books available, and there is a new one that joins them: Peter Carfagna's "Sports and the Law: Examining the Legal Evolution of American's Three 'Major Leagues" (West, 2009).Peter's book is devoted to the sports law of Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association...

More on Star Caps

Posted on November 04, 2009
As a follow up to Nathaniel?s post on the Star Caps hearing, the written testimony of all of the witnesses and the video of the hearing can be found here (note that the testimony from the witnesses does not begin until about the 1:26:48 mark).Here is the full witness list: Roger Goodell, Commissioner, National Football League; DeMaurice Smith, Executive Director, National Football League Players Association; Rob Manfred, Executive Vice President, Labor and Human Resources, Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, Major League Baseball; Michael S...

Congress Considers the StarCaps Case

Posted on November 03, 2009
A Congressional hearing was held today regarding whether to amend the Labor Management Relations Act in order to protect professional sports leagues' performance enhancing drug policies from being attacked under state law. The hearing was held in response to the 8th Circuit's recent decision in Williams v...

U.S. Supreme Court to hear American Needle v. NFL on January 13, 2010

Posted on November 02, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court released its January calendar today, and announced that American Needle v. NFL will be heard on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 (h/t Ryan Rodenberg of Legal Aspects of Sports Blog). For past Sports Law Blog coverage on the case, click here...

Do Pro Athletes Commit Crimes at Unusually High Rates?

Posted on October 28, 2009
Lawrence Delevingne of The Business Insider explores athletes and crime in a recent piece. He interviews Geoff, Duke Law Prof Lisa Kern Griffin, and me. Here's an excerpt:But pro athletes aren't actually more likely to commit crimes that the average citizen...

Big Win for NHL as Judge Rejects Balsillie Bid for Coyotes

Posted on October 01, 2009
Opening Night for the NHL's new season just became a more festive occasion as bankruptcy judge Redfield Baum rejected Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie $242 million bid for the Phoenix Coyotes, concluding that it would interfere with the league's relocation rights and procedures...

Nike Brings Back Michael Vick

Posted on September 30, 2009
Interesting news from Liz Mullen of Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal, as excerpted here:Michael Vick has signed an endorsement deal with Nike, according to Mike Principe, managing director for BEST, the agency that represents Vick. Principe would reveal no other details, but referred other questions to Vick?s personal agent, Joel Segal ...

The $500,000 Diet Seems to Work: Glen "Big Baby" Davis shows up to camp in shape

Posted on September 29, 2009
Last month, I blogged about Celtics forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis' new two-year, $5 million contract with the Celtics and the contract's inclusion of an annual bonus of $500,000 if Davis can avoid getting too heavy, which in the past has been a major problem for him...

Sports Law Blog Bowl II: Toledo 41, FIU 31

Posted on September 29, 2009
I am happy to report that the University of Toledo (my school) defeated Florida International University (Howard's school) this weekend, 41-31. This avenges last year's loss.

Defining sport: An illustration

Posted on September 28, 2009
From Kris Lines, who heads the Sports Law Program at Staffordshire University in the UK, comes this animated video on the issue of defining sport. It pointed out one additional reason for defining something as sport: At least in the UK, financial considerations (lower taxes and subsidies) turn on whether an activity is sport or merely exercise or a pasttime...

Amicus Briefs filed in American Needle v. NFL

Posted on September 28, 2009
Friday was the deadline for the filing of amicus curiae briefs supporting the petitioner, American Needle, in American Needle v. NFL. According to the Supreme Court's docket, only two amicus briefs were filed: A joint brief filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, available here...

The Debate Over Commercial Use of College Players' Identities Continues

Posted on September 27, 2009
Nathan Crabbe and Kevin Brockway of The Gainesville Sun wrote some interesting stuff yesterday regarding the profts made by the University of Florida from the commercial use of its players' identities. Crabbe wrote about how the university aggressively works to stop businesses from profiting off Tim Tebow, except when its own products are involved...

Why PETA Shouldn't Blame Roger Goodell for Michael Vick's Return

Posted on September 25, 2009
This Sunday marks Michael Vick?s official return to the National Football League?an event that has been widely criticized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (?PETA?), as well as some sports writers and doggie bloggers. What those who criticize NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for reinstating Vick fail to understand, however, is that the NFL may have ultimately lacked any real choice...

Use of College Players' Identities in the Sale of Jerseys

Posted on September 24, 2009
For anybody who questions whether a jersey number constitutes a sufficient indicia of identity for establishing a right of publicity cause of action, check out this snippet from the L.A. Times.

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