Media & Entertainment Law

UCLA Sports Law Panel Today on NCAA Compliance

Posted on September 30, 2008
Nate Jones, a 2L at UCLA Law School and author of Jones on the NBA, lets me know about a panel discussion today hosted by the UCLA Sports Law Federation on NCAA compliance and other legal issues surrounding amateur sports, including those involving Brandon Jennings, O...

The NFL Loses its Voice

Posted on September 29, 2008
Although fans of the NFL may not recognize his name, most fans can immediately recognize the distinctive voice of John Facenda. For many years, Facenda was the voice of the NFL, narrating weekly highlights for NFL films with his deep baritone voice. Along with a great soundtrack, Facenda?s narration transformed ordinary NFL action into an extraordinary television event (here?s one of his best)...

Upcoming Sports Law Conference at Marquette University Law School

Posted on September 29, 2008
Marquette University Law School Professor Paul Anderson, who is Associate Director of the National Sports Law Institute, has let me know of what should be an excellent sports event coming in October at Marquette Law:On Friday, October 24, 2008 the National Sports Law Institute of Marquette University Law School will host a conference on Professional Sports: Current Issues and Their Future Implications...

Sports Law Blog Bowl

Posted on September 27, 2008
The big sports law news is from college football:Florida International University 35, Toledo 16, with FIU scoring 21 unanswered points in the second half. Put another way: Howard Wasserman's school 35, Geoffrey Rapp's 16.Pursuant to our government-official-style wager, I think Geoff owes me some Tony Packo's sausage.

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Sports Media Ethics (or lack thereof), Part III

Posted on September 26, 2008
Steve Donohue of SportsBusiness Journal has an interesting piece this week in which he discusses the recent trend of news outlets cutting costs on sports coverage, for example by reducing headcount in recent years, slashing travel budgets and not allowing beat reporters to cover as many away games (Newspaper Cutbacks Slice into Sports Coverage, 9/22/08)...

Pirates sign draft pick, avoid labor confusion

Posted on September 22, 2008
A couple of weeks ago, I linked to commentary on a brewing dispute between the Pittsburgh Pirates and their top draft pick, Pedro Alvarez, that threatened to raise some open issues of the labor agreement. Well, the question is moot (the car is mine); the Pirates and Alvarez have agreed on a contract worth approximately $ 6...

Kobé

Posted on September 20, 2008
Stevc Dilbeck writes in the L.A. Daily News that Kobe Bryant may decide to leave the NBA and sign with a European club. Our good friend Sonny Vaccaro agrees this is a distinct possibility. Sonny said on a local LA sports talk radio show: "I think there is a great possibility, if for no other reason than he will make his value worth much more than anyone can imagine...

We're Number 119! More on Duke Football

Posted on September 18, 2008
It?s time for the latest update on Duke football. Back in June, Mark wrote about Duke?s victory in court over Louisville. Here?s a quick recap: Duke and Louisville agreed to play each other in 2002, 2007, 2008, and 2009. Louisville won the 2002 game by a score of 40-3 (though the final score could very well have been 40-6 if not for a questionable call by the ref), and Duke decided not to play the final three games agreed upon in the contract...

Chicago Sports Law CLE

Posted on September 18, 2008
Illinois readers might be interested in the "Sports Law Pairing" CLE event, scheduled for November 6 in Chicago. The agenda features a number of interesting topics. Sports lawyer Eldon Ham, who has taught Chicago-Kent's sports law class for years, will be speaking at the event.

Great New Article on Morals Clauses

Posted on September 14, 2008
I've always found morals clauses in player and endorsement contracts to be interesting. Morals clauses give the employing team/company the right to suspend or terminate a contract with a player who engages in "immoral" conduct. Defining what counts as "immoral" can vary considerably by contract; sometimes a criminal conviction is required, other times just an arrest, and still other times non-criminal, yet embarrassing behavior can count (such as someone getting drunk at a charity function)...

Sports Media Ethics (or lack thereof), Part II

Posted on September 13, 2008
Today will be remembered by me as the day in which journalism ethics in sports reporting officially died. Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean (and reprinted in USA Today) publishes deeply personal and private discussions between Vince Young and his psychologist regarding contemplations of suicide that Wyatt obtained from a police report...

Re-examining the Place of Race in Sports

Posted on September 11, 2008
A webstream of "Re-examining the Place of Race in Sports" featuring John Carlos, Tim Davis and andré douglas pond cummings can be viewed at:http://law.wvu.edu/raceinsportsforumThe West Virginia University College of Law and the Sports and Entertainment Law Society sponsored this fall forum.

USOC Apologizes to 'Masked' Athletes

Posted on September 11, 2008
Admitting the impropriety of its demands to four U.S. Olympic athletes to apologize to Beijing Olympic officials for wearing anti-pollution masks, the U.S. Olympic Committee is now apologizing to those athletes. As noted in my earlier blog, the four cyclists -- Sarah Hammer, Jennie Reed, Bobby Leafter and Mike Friedman -- were castigated by the USOC for wearing the masks upon arrival at the Beijing airport...

Update on CBS - NFL Players Fantasy League Dispute

Posted on September 11, 2008
In response to the lawsuit filed by CBS against the NFLPA in Minnesota that I mentioned last week, NFL Players Inc., the entity that handles the group licensing and marketing for the players, has filed its own lawsuit this week against CBS in federal court in Miami...

Another Statistic to Measure a Batter's Future Performance

Posted on September 10, 2008
If you are one of those people convinced that future performance at the plate can be predicted by using some creative formula and crunching a bunch of numbers, Ron Shandler of USA Today mentions a statistic that I had never heard of before, the "Expected Batting Average" (Batters Don't Always Live Up (or Down) to Expectations):It does start with a batter's ability to distinguish between balls and strikes, which we can measure using his walk/strikeout rate...

Video Evidence and Sporting Events

Posted on September 10, 2008
I suppose this was inevitable: Video evidence of alleged public police unconstitutional conduct hits the sports world. Last weekend, East Carolina beat West Virginia in football. ECU fans rushed onto the field to celebrate the victory, encountering police along the way...

New tales of sport and free expression, Part III

Posted on September 09, 2008
The new Sports Illustrated reports on the involvement of a number of professional athletes as supporters and activists on behalf of both presidential candidates and suggests we are seeing the return of the activist athlete, thought dead-and-buried in the 1980s and 1990s by players more interested in commerce than politics...

Re-examining the Place of Race in Sports

Posted on September 09, 2008
The West Virginia University College of Law Sports and Entertainment Law Society is proud to sponsor its Fall Forum, Re-Examining the Place of Race In Sports, to be held this Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. in the Marlyn Lugar Courtroom at the WVU Law Center in Morgantown, West Virginia...

Did Inaction Lead to The Worst Performing U.S. Olympic Boxing Team in History?

Posted on September 09, 2008
Whether U.S.A. Boxing Could Have Done More to Get Medal Favorite Gary Russell, Jr. the Opportunity to Compete in the Beijing Gamesby Paul Stuart Haberman, Esq. During the early morning of August 8, 2008, United States Olympian Gary Russell, Jr., the boxing team?s bantamweight (119 lbs...

The Pittsburgh Pirates, Scott Boras, and Pedro Alvarez

Posted on September 09, 2008
Mark Fenster (Florida), guesting at PrawfsBlawg, has a great analysis of the ongoing dispute between the Pittsburgh Pirates and their top draft pick (and purported savior) Pedro Alvarez, represented by Scott Boras. Check it out; the situation has gotten very ugly.

New tales of sport and free expression, Part I

Posted on September 07, 2008
Some new stories of sport and speech this week. I originally was going to discuss them in one post, but it got too long, so I decided to break it up over the next few days.A blurb in the new Sports Illustrated reports that a fan was kicked out of Yankee Stadium when he tried to leave his seat and go to the bathroom while "God Bless America" was playing during the Seventh Inning Stretch...

New tales of sport and free expression, Part II

Posted on September 07, 2008
This one is about two weeks old, but I just heard about it. Rick Reilly at ESPN.com writes about the new policy at the University of Virginia banning all signs at sporting events. The policy apparently was triggered by University objections to students last season wielding signs critical (and calling for the firing) of football coach Al Groh, in violation of a policy against signs bearing derogatory comments, and by the school's a desire to keep the game environment "positive...

The Best Bargains in College Football

Posted on September 05, 2008
Winning in college football is one thing, but who's winning without breaking the bank on their coach's salary? Darren Everson of the Wall Street Journal compiled some interesting data on this question. Everson ranks the BCS teams that received votes in last season's final AP poll in order of how big a bargain their coaches were, based on an average of a coach's salary and the "cost per vote" (coach salary divided by the number of AP votes each team received)...

LPGA Rescinds English-Only Suspension Policy

Posted on September 05, 2008
Today, the LPGA announced that it would revise its English only language policy to eradicate the draconian consequence of suspension, as reported here earlier this week. According to LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens, the LPGA was enlightened by the serious criticism it came under after announcing its policy...

CBS Sues NFLPA for Demanding Licensing Fees

Posted on September 05, 2008
Eric Fisher of SportsBusiness Journal reports today that CBS Interactive Inc. sued the NFLPA earlier this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, claiming that the NFLPA is wrongly pressuring CBS to pay licensing fees to operate fantasy football games this season...

Where did the best sports agents go to law school?

Posted on September 03, 2008
At Moneylaw, Louisville law dean Jim Chen discusses a profile of football agent Ben Dogra from today's New York Times. Dean Chen notes:Scott Boras attended McGeorge School of Law. Theo Epstein went to law school at the University of San Diego. Dogra...

New Sports Law Scholarship

Posted on September 02, 2008
Recently published scholarship includes: Phillip C. Blackman, Student Article, The NCAA?s academic performance program: academic reform or academic racism?, 15 UCLA ENTERTAINMENT LAW REVIEW 225 (2008)Deborah L. Brake and Verna L. Williams, The Heart of the Game: putting race and educational equity at the center of Title IX...

Building a Successful Franchise Takes Time...and Patience

Posted on August 30, 2008
In yesterday's edition of the Washington Times, Thom Loverro rips the management of the Washington Nationals for its poor performance, including Nationals president Stan Kasten for not achieving in two years the level of success he had as president of the Atlanta Braves (Kasten's Impact Not Visible):If Kasten is not steering this ship - and it's difficult to believe that he is - then he needs to find a life preserver and jump because, as the great Micheal Ray Richardson once said, "The ship be sinking...

Knight Commission on NCAA, College Player Publicity Rights, and Fantasy Sports

Posted on August 30, 2008
Knight Commission co-chairs William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the university system of Maryland, and R. Gerald Turner, president of Southern Methodist University, have an interesting op-ed in today's Los Angeles Times on college athletes being used in fantasy sports (a topic which Rick blogged about in July)...

LPGA English Only Requirement

Posted on August 28, 2008
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has been at the center of a media firestorm for the past several days. On August 20th, it announced that it was adopting a policy that requires its member golfers to speak English proficiently or face suspension...

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