Media & Entertainment Law

Tort Liability for Fans Hit by Soccer Balls

Posted on December 16, 2008
Interesting piece by Attorney Mack Sperling on North Carolina Business Business Litigation Report on a new decision by the North Carolina Court of Appeals:All lawyers know, from first year torts class, that if you are hit by a baseball at a baseball game, you are unlikely to have any claim against the operator of the baseball stadium...

Non-Tendered Players Become Free Agents

Posted on December 16, 2008
On Friday December 12, all teams had a deadline to decide whether or not to tender a contract offer to a select number of their players. If the player was non-tendered by the deadline, that player was granted free agency. The vast majority of the players impacted by the deadline are eligible for salary arbitration...

Minority Football Coaches and Civil Rights

Posted on December 14, 2008
The new-old controversy in college football is the lack of Black head coaches in Division I-A college football. With recent firings and resignations, there are four Black coaches (out of 119 schools) in a sport in which approximately 46 % of players are Black...

Farewell to the Father of Law-and-Baseball

Posted on December 12, 2008
The New York Times reported today on the death of William S. Stevens, who arguably started the law-and-baseball movement with his 1975 unsigned student comment Aside: The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule. (H/T: Paul Horwitz at PrawfsBlawg). This was one of the first articles to draw links, humorously or seriously, between baseball and its rule-bound traditions and the law and has sparked all manner of scholarship building on those links.

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The Economy Strikes Again (Sabathia not Worried)

Posted on December 10, 2008
According to the Denver Post, the Arena Football League ?faces possible dissolution unless it secures an infusion of money by December 19.? Perhaps they can call CC Sabathia, who is reportedly set to sign a 7 year, $161 million contract with the Yankees...

News on Two Members of the 2008 Salary Arbitration Hearing Group - Francisco Rodriguez and Mark Loretta

Posted on December 10, 2008
As noted in Gabe Feldman's earlier post today, Francisco Rodriguez has reached a three-year, $37 million agreement with the New York Mets to bring the closer from Anaheim to New York. Rodriguez, who set a Major League record last year with 62 saves, went to a hearing last year and lost when his panel (Stephen Goldberg, Elizabeth Neumeier, Steven Wolf) chose the Angels? figure of $10 million instead of his request for $12...

The Economy Strikes Again (K-Rod not Worried)

Posted on December 09, 2008
While Francisco Rodriguez (and his new 3-year, $37 million deal) probably won?t be doing much complaining about a recession, the impact of the tough economic times continues to be felt by major sports entities in the U.S. Today, the NFL announced that it plans to cut more than 10 percent of its staff and that it has indefinitely suspended plans to play a preseason game in China...

Recent Posts of Note

Posted on December 09, 2008
Credit Slips, Tribune Bankruptcy a Coup for Mark CubanEmpirical Legal Studies Blog, College Applications & Athletic Prowess

Oliver and Weathers Accept Salary Arbitration

Posted on December 08, 2008
Of the 24 free agents offered salary arbitration by their teams last week, only pitchers Darren Oliver of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and David Weathers of the Cincinnati Reds accepted the offer. Thus, both Oliver and Weathers will stay with their current team for the 2009 season...

Let Them Play! (at least on this Sunday)

Posted on December 05, 2008
U.S. District Court judge Paul Magnuson granted a temporary restraining order earlier today which will permit Will Smith and Deuce McCallister of the New Orleans Saints to play in their game this Sunday in New Orleans (the TRO also applies to Charles Grant, but he is on the injured reserve list and thus unable to play)...

Free Agents and Salary Arbitration

Posted on December 05, 2008
Some of you have not seen a post from me on the Sports Law Blog for awhile. However, salary arbitration season is now in full swing. Earlier this week (Monday midnight ET deadline), 24 free agents were offered salary arbitration by their teams. The split between leagues was identical with 12 in each league...

And you Thought only the Mets were Playing in Taxpayer Field

Posted on December 05, 2008
Since the federal government's $700 billion bailout of the banking industry, many taxpayers have demanded that the New York Mets new stadium, Citi Field, be renamed Taxpayer Field. However, low and behold, it's not just the Mets that are enjoying free taxpayer money...

Sentencing of O.J. Simpson

Posted on December 04, 2008
I have a new SI.com column on O.J. Simpson, who will be sentenced tomorrow in a Las Vegas court. Hope you have a moment to check it out.

The Legal Woes of Plaxico Burress

Posted on December 02, 2008
I have a new SI.com column on Plaxico Burress. I hope you have a chance to check it out.

The Press Provokes Unnecessary Controversy Between LeBron James and Charles Barkley

Posted on November 29, 2008
Does today's journalism environment naturally provoke reaction or is provocation itself the real aim? Today's attention-grabbing news headline (and it's all over ESPN this morning), "LeBron James Calls Barkley 'Stupid' for Criticizing Him," demonstrates that oftentimes it's the latter...

Thoughts on Indiana

Posted on November 26, 2008
A couple of thoughts on the NCAA's decision to drop the hammer on Kelvin Sampson, but less so on Indiana, particularly in sparing the Hoosiers from a post-season ban (of course, Indiana is not going to the post-season anytime soon, so the end result is the same)...

New Developments in Alleged DNA Evidence Against Roger Clemens

Posted on November 25, 2008
I have a new SI.com column out on Roger Clemens and the syringes and other materials provided by Brian McNamee that McNamee claims contains Clemens' DNA. According to today's NY Times and the NY Daily News, federal prosecutors have requested and received the evidence from McNamee and have found readable DNA...

American Bar Association Journal Features Sports Law Blog

Posted on November 25, 2008
Our thanks to the ABA for featuring Sports Law Blog as "This Week's Featured Blawg." For those who have discovered us through the ABA, we hope you like what you see. Thanks for visiting.

Indiana University Largely Escapes NCAA Punishment for Kelvin Sampson's Infractions

Posted on November 25, 2008
Mark Alesia of the Indianapolis Star has the story:Indiana University will receive three years probation from the NCAA for recruiting violations under former men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson but will not be further penalized, sources close to the investigation told The Indianapolis Star today...

Can Letters of Intent have Opt-Out Clauses Should Coach Quit?

Posted on November 24, 2008
Over on Truth on the Market, George Mason Law Professor Joshua Wright (who's visiting at the University of Texas Law School this year) has an outstanding post on prep basketball star DeMarcus Cousins, who is seeking an opt-out clause in his letter of intent with University of Alabama Birmingham for the possiblity of UAB head coach Mike Davis jumping ship...

Some counts against Bonds dropped

Posted on November 24, 2008
United States District Judge Susan Illston dismissed three of the fifteen counts and consolidated two others against Barry Bonds today, although 11 counts (10 perjury, one obstruction of justice) remain in place. Not a big deal; it sounds like she was just cleaning up the indictment to avoid duplicative counts or counts in which either the initial question was ambiguous or the answer was too vague as to reasonably produce a knowingly false statement...

MLB, Japanese Baseball, and US Antitrust Law

Posted on November 20, 2008
Today?s NY Times has an interesting article about Junichi Tazawa, the 22-year old Japanese pitching star. Tazawa first drew attention for his 97-mph hour fastball, but has now become the center of controversy because he is the first notable amateur Japanese baseball player to entertain offers from Major League Baseball teams before playing for or even signing with a Japanese team...

IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum (Dec. 10-11)

Posted on November 18, 2008
On December 10th and 11th, Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily will host the seventh annual IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum at the InterContinental, The Barclay in New York City.A "must-attend" for anyone involved in the business of college sports, the IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum is the one-time each year the NCAA leadership, athletic directors, university presidents, conference commissioners, media partners and corporate sponsors collectively discuss their mutual issues in college sports...

President-elect Obama and College Football Playoffs

Posted on November 18, 2008
Tim Lemke of the Washington Times examines President-elect Barack Obama's desire for college football to adopt a playoff system.Tim interviewed me for the story, which covers the economic, legal, and political angles of the President-elect's apparently genuine interest in reforming college football's post-season...

Mark Cuban Accused of Insider Trading

Posted on November 17, 2008
I have a new SI.com column on Mark Cuban being sued today by the Securities and Exchange Commission on insider trading charges. I hope you have a chance to check it out.I'll also be interviewed on Houston 790 AM tomorrow at 9:05 a.m. EST to discuss the charges.

Brandon Jennings Update and NBA's Age Limit

Posted on November 15, 2008
Luis Fernández and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress have an update on Brandon Jennings--the 19-year-old American basketball star who opted to play professionally Italy while waiting to become eligible for the 2009 NBA Draft--is doing in Rome. In addition to living in a rent-free luxury apartment in downtown Rome, among many other perks, Jennings is earning around $1 million this year, after tax, between basketball and endorsement income (in fact, he stands to earn more in endorsement income this year than any pick from the 2008 NBA Draft, save for the top three players selected, Michael Beasely, Derrick Rose, and O...

Trevor Hoffman Doesn't Get a Gold Watch from the Padres

Posted on November 13, 2008
It would be interesting to hear from any sports agent readers of this blog on their reaction to how the San Diego Padres informed Trevor Hoffman--who's pitched for the Padres for the last 15 years--that his contract offer to pitch next season had been rescinded:The Padres informed Hoffman not in person with a one-on-one conversation, or a hand-written note, or even with a phone callInstead, they sent his reps a fax...

New Orleans, Gambling, and the NBA

Posted on November 13, 2008
The Times-Picayune has an interesting story up about Phil Jackson?s reaction to an advertisement for Harrah?s New Orleans Casino in the visiting locker room in the New Orleans Arena. Here?s what Jackson said:We talked about this last year?.We thought it wasn't a good message at all...

Retired NFL Players Win Suit Against NFLPA

Posted on November 10, 2008
According to an AP report, the jury awarded the class of retired NFL players $28.1 million in damages?including $21 million in punitive damages? in its suit against the NFL Players Association.As the report notes:Hall of Fame cornerback Herb Adderley filed the lawsuit last year on behalf of 2,056 retired players who contend the union failed to actively pursue marketing deals on their behalf with video games, trading cards and others sports products...

Spies are Among Us

Posted on November 08, 2008
Ironically, on the same day that I'm at Seton Hall University School of Law (yesterday) speaking about the overly broad discretion afforded the commissioner under the NFL's personal conduct policy implemented by Roger Goodell last year, the Wall Street Journal's Hannah Karp published a really interesting piece on how NFL teams are now spying on the players off the field (Why the NFL Spies on its Players, 11/7/08)...

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