Media & Entertainment Law

New sports blog

Posted on March 07, 2009
Jon Pessah of ESPN and Stony Brook University has a new blog, including posts about the government's Javert-like pursuit of Barry Bonds and other steroid users. Jon has done some great recent writing about Jeff Novitzky, the lead federal investigator on many of these matters...

Truth of the Day

Posted on March 06, 2009

More on the Less Restrictive Alternative

Posted on March 05, 2009
Rick?s latest post gives me a perfect opportunity to shamelessly plug my new article, ?The Misuse of the Less Restrictive Alternative Inquiry in Rule of Reason Analysis,? which was recently published in the American University Law Review and can be found here...

BCS and Antitrust

Posted on March 05, 2009
USA Today's Steve Wieberg reports this morning that the Mountain West Conference yesterday "unveiled a plan that would recast the BCS' four current bowls ? FedEx Orange, Allstate Sugar, Tostitos Fiesta and Rose ? as quarterfinals in an eight-team playoff, quadrupling the number of teams that get a shot at the national title...

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Harvard Law School conference on Free Market Ideology

Posted on March 04, 2009
Not sports law related, but possibly of interest to some of our readers:This Saturday, the Project on Law and Mind Sciences of Harvard Law School will be hosting its third annual conference. The topic is "The Free Market Mindset: History, Psychology, and Consequences...

MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference This Saturday

Posted on March 03, 2009
I'm honored to be speaking at this year's MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, which will be held this Saturday (March 7th) in Cambridge, Mass.It should be an amazing event, with some of the biggest names in sports, including Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Rockets GM Daryl Morey, and ESPN columnist Bill Simmons, as speakers...

The NFL Scored an Antitrust Touchdown in American Needle. Why are they asking the Supreme Court for a Review?

Posted on March 02, 2009
As has been narrowly reported, the Supreme Court has asked the Solicitor General for an amicus brief in the American Needle case. Marc Edelman has an excellent new post discussing this development on Above the Law. As I discussed in a post here a few months ago, the Seventh Circuit?s conclusion in American Needle that the NFL and its teams act as single entity when promoting NFL football through licensing teams? intellectual property marked the rebirth of the single entity argument in sports antitrust litigation...

New York County Lawyers Association Sports Law Forum: March 11, 2009

Posted on March 01, 2009
Location: NYCLA Building, 14 Vesey Street, New York, New York Time: 6:30 P.M.The forum is about the representation of athletes in individualized (as opposed to team) sports in negotiations and the maintenance of endorsement and sponsorship deals. Among the topics to be covered are the recent Michael Phelps and Alex Rodriguez scandals and how to handle such matters as they pertain to endorsements and sponsorships, as their attorneys...

A Re-Examination of Jeff Novitsky

Posted on March 01, 2009
Jon Pessah of ESPN Magazine and Stony Brook University has a very provocative piece up today on ABC News that re-assesses the decisions of IRS agent Jeff Novitsky in the BALCO investigation, particularly as his decisions pertain to the Barry Bonds investigation...

Vanderbilt Symposium

Posted on March 01, 2009
On Friday, March 13, the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law is hosting a symposium at the law school entitled, "Lights, Labor, Action: Labor Controversy in the Sports and Entertainment Industries." CLE credit is available for practitioners and registration information can be obtained at the above link...

Saturday Links

Posted on February 28, 2009
* I have a new column on SI.com concerning a "last second" appeal brought by the prosecution in the Barry Bonds trial, which was set to begin on Monday and now likely won't start for weeks, if not months. The prosecution wants the Ninth Circuit to reverse Judge Susan Illston's evidence rulings concerning the exclusion of various BALCO related materials...

The Implications of Kevin Durant's Jersey Retiring

Posted on February 27, 2009
Congratulations to Kevin Durant, whose No. 35 was just retired by his alma mater, the University of Texas. Durant's time at UT was admittedly brief; he played just one season before turning pro. But it was quite the season: he averaged 26 points and 11 rebounds per game, leading his team to the second round of the NCAA tournament and earning the honor of 2006-07 National Player of the Year...

Sonny Vaccaro in the Hoosier State

Posted on February 27, 2009
For those of you near Indiana University-Bloomington, Sonny Vaccaro will present there on Monday, March 2nd from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. He will discuss the NCAA's treatment of student-athletes, particularly male basketball players, and the relationship between those players contributions to their universities and the income generated by those universities from sports TV contracts and related revenue sources...

2009 Tulane Law School Moot Court Mardi Gras Invitational Sports Law Competition

Posted on February 25, 2009
Last week, Tulane Law School hosted the 2009 Tulane Law School Moot Court Mardi Gras Invitational Sports Law Competition. This year?s problem was based on hybrid of the single entity issue raised in the American Needle case and the release issue raised in the MSG-NHL case ...

New Sports Law Scholarship

Posted on February 24, 2009
Recently published scholarship includes:Ian C.B. Davis, Note, An analysis of horse racing jockeys riding under Kentucky?s workers? compensation laws, 97 KENTUCKY LAW JOURNAL 173 (2008-2009)Dionne L. Koller, How the United States government sacrifices athletes? constitutional rights in the pursuit of national prestige, 2008 BYU LAW REVIEW 1465 Raymond Shih Ray Ku, Is nominal use an answer to the free speech and right of publicity quandary?: lessons from America?s national pastime, 11 CHAPMAN LAW REVIEW 435 (2008)Michael A...

Law Professor's New Book Argues for Unionization of Minor League Baseball

Posted on February 24, 2009
Via the Workplace Law Prof blog and my colleague Joseph Slater, McGeorge Law Professor and labor arbitrator Don Wollett has released a new book, Getting on Base: Unionism in Baseball. The book argues that minor league baseball players should be organized into a union...

The 22nd Sports and Recreation Law Association Conference

Posted on February 24, 2009
The 22nd Annual Sports and Recreation Law Association takes place from March 4 - 7 in San Antonio, with presentations and speakers covering a number of issues. SRLA's s conferences focus on issues of school and amateur sports, particularly questions of personal injury and risk management...

Evidence excluded in Bonds case

Posted on February 22, 2009
Judge Illston's order is here Download USAvsBondsOpinion021909. Straightforward, but a good review for my Evidence class of a number of concepts--real evidence requires a chain of custody, the chain of custody requires admissible evidence, the search for hearsay exceptions, and the unreviewable discretion that district court judges have on procedure and evidence...

WTA Fines Dubai Tournament for Ban on Israeli Player

Posted on February 21, 2009
It is a truism that sports and politics should not mix. It is an equal truism that they do. The question is in the justification. Nations have boycotted the Olympics and the Olympics have boycotted nations, such as Apartheid-era South Africa. Numerous debates as to the wisdom of boycotts and their effect on sports have gone on for years...

2009 Arbitration Season Ends with Settlement

Posted on February 20, 2009
The Washington Nationals and Ryan Zimmerman settled early this morning prior to their scheduled hearing at the midpoint figure of $3,325,000. So, the players prevailed in 2 of the 3 hearings this season and that marks the first time since 1996, when the players won 7 of the 10 hearings, that the players defeated the teams in arbitration...

Harvard Law School Sports Law Symposium: Sports Law in an Economic Downturn

Posted on February 19, 2009
I'm pleased to be joining Rick as a participant in this year's Harvard Law School Sports Law Symposium, which will be held on Friday March 13th and Saturday, March 14th at the law school.The symposium, which is hosted by the Harvard Law School Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law, is in honor of Harvard Law School Professor Paul Weiler, one of the founders of U...

Catching Up with Some Links

Posted on February 19, 2009
* Oliver v. NCAA: Last week, Alan Milstein blogged on an Ohio state court's ruling in favor of Oklahoma State University star pitcher Andrew Oliver, who had been suspended by the NCAA. The NCAA had suspended Oliver after learning that, years earlier, Oliver had met with Minnesota Twins representatives with his attorneys while contemplating whether to retain his amateur status and attend college or turn pro after high school...

Not a Problem or Not Enough Money to Fund the Program: Florida Ends HS Anabolic Steroids Testing Program

Posted on February 18, 2009
The Florida High School Athletic Association?s anaboloic steroid testing program, which began in July 2007 for athletes participating in football, baseball and weightlifting, has been put on the back burner, at least for now, due to the economy and the rationale that the money must go elsewhere...

Salary Arbitration Update

Posted on February 18, 2009
There were four hearings set for today, and all proved to be unnecessary as settlements were finalized between Corey Hart and the Brewers, Conor Jackson and the Diamondbacks, Mike Jacobs and the Royals, and Josh Willingham and the Nationals. That leaves only the Atlanta Braves and both Jeff Francoeur and Kelly Johnson and Washington and Ryan Zimmerman left for this year...

Yale Law School Sports Litigation Panel

Posted on February 18, 2009
Next Wednesday, February 25th, Yale Law School will be hosting a panel discussion on sports litigation.I am honored to be moderating the event, which has some phenomenal speakers.The panel will take place from 4:10 to 6 p.m. and is open to the public...

Can Barry Bonds Receive a Fair Trial?

Posted on February 18, 2009
I address that question and some others in a new SI.com column. Here's an excerpt:* * *In addition to avoiding Bonds-haters, counsel for Bonds will seek jurors who are skeptical about the government's decision to prosecute Bonds. A libertarian-leaning person, for instance, might object to the expenditure of millions of tax dollars to prosecute baseball players who used substances to help hit home runs...

ABA Teleseminar this Thursday

Posted on February 17, 2009
This Thursday, the ABA Section of Antitrust Law Trade, Sports & Professional Associations Committee, Section of Intellectual Property Law, The Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries and the ABA Center for Continuing Legal Education are sponsoring a 90-minute teleseminar and live audio webcast titled, Whose Home Run is it Anyway? Practical Advice on Intellectual Property Issues in Sports...

When they say they don't want to politicize sports, . . .

Posted on February 17, 2009
Shahar Peer of Israel, the # 48-ranked women's singles player, was denied an entry visa to the United Arab Emirates to play in this week's Barclays Dubai Tournament, citing security fears of having an Israeli playing in Dubai in the wake of the recent military conflict in Gaza...

The Michael Phelps Saga

Posted on February 16, 2009
We've somehow ignored the much discussed Michael Phelps situation concerning a certain photo, for which he has apologized. I was recently interviewed by Ed Berliner on Stone Cold Sports to discuss it. Here are my comments:

Two Arbitration Hearings Postponed

Posted on February 14, 2009
The Associated Press reported yesterday that the arbitration hearings for Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher Ervin Santana and Tampa Bay Rays infielder Willy Aybar were postponed. I cannot remember a postponement of a hearing in recent years, but the general consensus is that the Angels and Rays are close to a settlement with Santana and Aybar...

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