Media & Entertainment Law

Opinio Juris Ranks Sports Law Blog 8th "Best Read" Law Professor Blog

Posted on July 23, 2009
Roger Alford of Pepperdine University School of Law and Opinio Juris looks at data originally compiled by Paul Caron of the University of Cincinnati College of Law and Tax Prof Blog on average visit length of the 35 most visited law professor blogs and finds that Sports Law Blog is the 8th best-read law professor blog (as Howard noted in June, we are 24th in terms of daily hits)...

Can Michael Vick Sue The NFL For Reinstatement?

Posted on July 22, 2009
Yesterday, the Associated Press (via ESPN.com) reported that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell plans to move slowly on whether to reinstate quarterback Michael Vick into the league. The implication here is that Goodell has full discretion over the length of player suspensions...

When should Congress get involved with pro sports, Part II?

Posted on July 21, 2009
Back in June, Mike reported on the letter from U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen urging NBA Commissioner and NBAPA Executive Director Billy Hunter to eliminate the league's age limit. I responded by wondering under what circumstances Congress should become involved with issues relating to governance and operations of sports and leagues...

O'Bannon v. NCAA: Should Former Student-Athletes be Paid for the NCAA's use of their Images and Identities?

Posted on July 21, 2009
A few hours ago, former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon, on behalf of a class of thousands of former men's basketball and football players, filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California over the NCAA's use and license of former student-athletes' identities in various commercial ventures...

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Congressman Steve Cohen's Letter to NBA President Joel Litvin

Posted on July 20, 2009
Last month, I blogged about U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen requesting that NBA commissioner David Stern and NBPA executive director Billy Hunter eliminate the NBA's age limit, which requires that a player be 19 years old plus one year removed from high school in order to be eligible for the NBA Draft (the rule was negotiated in 2005; previously, players could join the NBA right after finishing high school)...

Munson on American Needle

Posted on July 19, 2009
Lester Munson of ESPN has a lengthy column on American Needle v. NFL (see here, here, and here). Among the many law professors he speaks with is our own Barry Law School-bound Marc Edelman.I like Munson's stuff. But this piece suffers from a number of weaknesses that plague much popular reporting and conversation on the judicial system...

Threat of Title IX Lawsuit Causes Florida Athletic Association to Reverse Course

Posted on July 16, 2009
State high school athletic officials in Florida recently exempted the lucrative sport of football from widespread scheduling cuts that were aimed at easing the financial burden on schools. However, under threat of a Title IX federal lawsuit, yesterday the Florida High School Athletic Association reversed course and abandoned the scheduling cuts to other sports...

David Cone on Judge Sotomayor

Posted on July 16, 2009
Former MLB pitcher David Cone testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nominate of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. The video of the full day can be found on the Committee Website. Cone's statement, discussing Sotomayor's decision in the 1995 baseball labor dispute that essentially ended the 1994 strike (and, in Cone's words, "saved baseball") begins at 461:30...

Law Review Essay on Judge Sotomayor and Sports Law

Posted on July 15, 2009
Connecticut Law Review will be publishing an essay I've written on Judge Sotomayor and two of her most important sports law decisions: Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Committee and Clarett v. National Football League.The essay also explores how Judge Sotomayor?s opinions and judicial philosophy may impact other emerging sports law disputes, including whether a player could successfully challenge the NBA's eligibility rule...

MLB Agents Want Union To Take More Active Stance Against Collusion

Posted on July 15, 2009
With MLB union leader Donald Fehr planning to soon step down from his post, several MLB player agents are encouraging his likely successor, Michael Weiner, to take a more active stance against player collusion.Unlike most other sports leagues, Major League Baseball has a long and well-documented history of colluding against its players' rights...

Ryan Church - Jeff Francoeur Trade - Salary Arbitration

Posted on July 13, 2009
The Ryan Church - Jeff Francoeur trade between the Mets and the Braves on Friday involved two players among the 111 who filed for salary arbitration prior to this season. The Mets also received $270,218 to equalize the salaries. There is already plenty to read on the Internet about the deal, but since my contributions to the Sports Law Blog deal with salary arbitration, I will offer a bit of information and place the rest in comments if anyone is interested in further discussion...

More on the umpire-judge analogy

Posted on July 12, 2009
Bruce Weber (author of the outstanding story of the umpiring profession, As They See 'Em) has a piece taking down the judges-as-umpires analogy. What does not come up in the piece is the point that, not only does the analogy misconstrue what judges do, but it denigrates what umpires do--the amount of discretion, perspective, purposivism, and judgment involved in umpiring...

Call for Papers: Third Annual Scholarly Colloquium on Intercollegiate Athletics

Posted on July 10, 2009
Marquette law professor Matt Mitten, who is also Director of the National Sports Law Institute, passes along information on a call for papers:The Third Annual Scholarly Colloquium on Intercollegiate AthleticsIn Conjunction with the NCAA Annual ConventionJanuary 12th and 13th 2010Atlanta, GeorgiaThe third annual Scholarly Colloquium on Intercollegiate Athletics will be held on January 12th and 13th, 2010 in conjunction with the NCAA Annual Convention in Atlanta, Georgia...

Quick Update on Star Caps and the Willams Wall

Posted on July 09, 2009
Earlier today, Hennepin County District Judge Gary Larson granted a temporary restraining order that will prevent the NFL from suspending Pat and Kevin Williams or from subjecting them to ?reasonable cause? drug testing until completion of a trial on the merits...

More on the Pat and Kevin Williams Suspensions and the Star Caps Saga

Posted on July 09, 2009
As you might recall, five NFL players?Kevin and Pat Williams of the Minnesota Vikings and Charles Grant, Deuce McAllister, and Will Smith of the New Orleans Saints?were suspended for four games last year after testing positive for bumetanide, a diuretic that can be used to mask the presence of steroids...

"God Bless America" lawsuit settled

Posted on July 08, 2009
The Red Sox fan who was kicked out of (old) Yankee Stadium when he tried to leave the seating area during the playing of God Bless America back in 2008 has settled his lawsuit against the City and the Yankees. I wrote about the suit here and here.According to news reports, the City will pay Bradford Campeau-Laurion $10,001 and the NYCLU $ 12,000 in attorneys fees...

Diagramming Palin's Metaphors

Posted on July 06, 2009
(H/T: Deadspin). Double-click image to enlarge.

New Sports Law Scholarship

Posted on July 06, 2009
Recently published scholarship includes:Christopher Bidlack, Comment, The prohibition of prosthetic limbs in American sports: the issues and the role of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 19 MARQUETTE SPORTS LAW REVIEW 613 (2009)Daniel Bilsky, From parts unknown: WWE v...

Stephon Marbury Uses Players' Association to represent him as Free Agent

Posted on July 04, 2009
Rick has written extensively about the benefits of players' associations retaining the capacity to negotiate contracts on behalf of individual players--meaning that players use the players' association, instead of an agent or agency, to negotiate employment contracts with teams...

The Fortunate 50

Posted on July 02, 2009
Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated has compiled his annual list of the top 50 earning U.S. athletes, taking into account salary, winnings, and endorsements. Always a fun read. Some interesting points:* Tiger Woods, not surprisingly, ranks first, earning just under $100 million ($92 million of which is from endorsements), followed by fellow golfer Phil Mickelson...

Just Sue It? SportsFuzion v. Nike and Basketball Hall of Fame

Posted on July 01, 2009
Deadspin has an interesting piece on a lawsuit brought by a small company named SportsFuzion against Nike and the Basketball Hall of Fame alleging breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, and fraud. The lawsuit concerns the following:* * *Three years ago, a small company called SportsFuzion saw an opportunity...

Should NCAA Adopt Rooney Rule?

Posted on June 30, 2009
On our blog, dre cummings and Roger Groves have written extensively about the Rooney Rule, an internal NFL rule which requires that NFL teams interview minority candidates for head coaching positions and which (as Cumberland law prof Marcia McCormick wrote about on Workplace Prof Blog earlier this month), now also requires that teams interview minority candidates for senior football operations positions...

U.S. Suprme Court Grants Cert in American Needle v. NFL

Posted on June 29, 2009
Earlier this morning, the Supreme Court released its order list, which included notice that it has granted cert in American Needle v. NFL. The Seventh Circuit held earlier this year that the NFL can enjoy single entity status -- and thus immunity from Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act -- for limited purposes (namely, apparel sales)...

More on American Needle

Posted on June 29, 2009
As Mike noted below, the Supreme Court granted cert today in American Needle v. NFL and will review the Seventh Circuit?s holding that the NFL and its teams act as single entity when promoting NFL football through licensing teams? intellectual property...

Catching Up with Links

Posted on June 26, 2009
* Brandon Jennings, a 19-year-old who earned over a million dollars playing basketball in Italy last season, was drafted 10th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in last night's NBA draft, ahead of a number of high-profile college players. Significance? Some believed that Jennings risked hurting his draft status by playing abroad and away from the TV coverage that players receive at top college programs...

The New Anti-Tobacco Legislation, Sports Events and Commercial Speech

Posted on June 24, 2009
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act signed by President Obama's earlier this week contains provisions that should be of more than passing interest to those involving sports sponsorship. As has been widely reported, the legislation (found in 111 P...

Does The New Women's Professional Soccer League Have A Business Model For Success?

Posted on June 23, 2009
In the late 1990s, sports consulting firms such as Game Plan LLC advised their clients to adopt centrally-planned league structures. Just ten years later, however, these structures have become relatively obsolete. Not only has the WNBA converted to a more traditional structure, but also the centrally-planned XFL, MISL and WUSA have gone entirely out of business...

Professor Scott Rosner on the 1992 Cable Act and Sports Broadcasting

Posted on June 22, 2009
Professor Scott Rosner, the associate director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania, has an engaging op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune on sports broadcasting. The op-ed is excerpted below.* * * There are four main ways to receive home video service in the United States: traditional over-the-air broadcast, cable, satellite and now over lines from new competitors such as AT&T and Verizon, who have invested billions in infrastructure and marketing...

Donald Fehr Stepping Down

Posted on June 22, 2009
The Street & Smith Sports Business Journal posted a link to an article by ESPN stating that Donald Fehr will be stepping down as Executive Director of the MLBPA "no later than the end of March." Pending board approval, his replacement will be current General Counsel Michael Weiner.

Legal Fallout of New York Times story on Sammy Sosa

Posted on June 17, 2009
I have a column up on SI.com on the legal fallout of news that Sammy Sosa was--according to the New York Times--one of the 104 names on the list of steroids users. Here's an excerpt.* * *Regardless of the Ninth Circuit's forthcoming decision (or of an unlikely review by the U...

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