While the focus of the recent Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship Game between University of Virginia and Texas Tech centered around the entertaining overtime finish culminating in Virginia’s first ever basketball championship, another storyline arose involving the runner-up Red Raiders. Specifically, graduate transfers played a role in Texas Tech’s magnificent tournament run due to the ability of … Continue Reading
Professional athletes who are “internationally recognized” are eligible for the P-1 visa and eSports (video games) at the professional level have become such major athletic events that eSports players have been granted these visas more and more often. https://www.collegeandprosportslaw.com/labor-law-and-sports/the-esports-industry-the-top-ten-labor-and-employment-law-issues/ In 2013, the USCIS for the first time recognized an eSports player as an athlete and … Continue Reading
The opportunity for college level student-athletes in California to take advantage of potential marketing opportunities while still maintaining their amateur status could soon become a reality. A report from the National College Players Association and Drexel University Sports Management Program concluded that 82 percent of full-scholarship athletes who live on campus and 90 percent of … Continue Reading
While colleges, universities and educational professionals await the Department of Education’s (DOE) proposed new Title IX regulations, which will dictate a revised process by which allegations of sexual misconduct must be handled, the state legislatures in Missouri and Arizona are currently considering legislation that would adopt many of Secretary DeVos’s anticipated regulatory modifications. Click here … Continue Reading
Millions of Americans will tune in on Sunday, February 3rd to the Super Bowl to watch one of the biggest sporting events of the year. This year’s game will again feature the New England Patriots, but it will be the first Super Bowl since the Supreme Court’s landmark case Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn., … Continue Reading
As colleges and universities and student athletes await the long anticipated decision from U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken in Alston v. NCAA regarding whether scholarship limits imposed by the NCAA violate anti-trust laws, a bill introduced in the State of Washington could provide student athletes in the state with the opportunity to be paid … Continue Reading
As colleges and universities review the Department of Education’s proposed new Title IX regulations revising process by which allegations of sexual misconduct must be handled, they must consider the potential impact of what appears to be clearly greater protections for those accused of sexual misconduct, including student-athletes. The proposed regulations will formally replace guidance and … Continue Reading
National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) Region 4 Regional Director Dennis Walsh recently dismissed Section 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(3) unfair labor practice charges filed by mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Leslie Smith against ZUFFA, LLC d/b/a Ultimate Fighting Championship (‘UFC”) alleging that her contract to fight was not renewed in retaliation for her union organizing efforts and … Continue Reading
The controversial NBA rule that keeps basketball players from beginning their professional careers until they’ve completed one year of college play may soon be history. The NBA has formally announced that “elite” 18-year-old basketball players will be able to move forward with their professional careers beginning with the 2019-20 season, skipping the current mandate that … Continue Reading
One of the NCAA’s strongest penalties has been declared illegal in California. California Superior Court Judge Frederick Shaller issued a final decision finding NCAA “show-cause” penalties to be a violation of California state law. Arising from a lawsuit filed more than seven years ago by former USC assistant football coach Todd McNair, Judge Shaller, confirming … Continue Reading
Following a February 2018 Sports Illustrated article regarding alleged sexual harassment and misconduct within Dallas Basketball Limited, the Dallas Mavericks basketball organization (“Mavericks”), the Mavericks commissioned an independent investigation into the claims. The investigators, comprised of two outside law firms, interviewed 215 witnesses and analyzed 1.6 million documents. The investigation report was publicly released on … Continue Reading
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson has denied the class-action status sought by a potential class of several thousand current and former players suing the National Hockey League (NHL) alleging that the league was negligent in its care and prevention of head trauma and that it fraudulently concealed the long-term impact of head injuries … Continue Reading
The Seventh Circuit has rejected antitrust claims filed against the NCAA by former Northern Illinois University student-athlete Peter Deppe and upheld the NCAA’s rule delaying the athletic eligibility of student-athletes who transfer to alternate schools without serving a “year in residence” at their new school before becoming eligible to resume their collegiate career. The Circuit … Continue Reading
The NCAA Division I counsel has acted to formally adopt the highly anticipated proposal that modifies the requirements for an athlete to transfer and to eliminate the NCAA “Permission to Contact” process for Division I athletes. Currently, student-athletes must seek their current NCAA institution’s permission prior to engaging in recruiting contact and subsequently transferring to … Continue Reading
New Jersey is considering a bill that would establish the framework of operation and regulation for wagering at casinos and racetracks on the results of certain professional, collegiate sports, or athletic events. The Garden State has long been at the forefront of advocating for state autonomy and discretion regarding sports wagering. State legislators introduced Assembly Bill No. … Continue Reading
The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down the federal law known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) that bans states from permitting gambling on sporting events. Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn., No. 16-476 (May 14, 2018). This decision effectively ends Nevada’s long-time monopoly in this arena and opens the … Continue Reading
As part of $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill signed by President Donald Trump in March, section 13(a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act is amended to exempt minor league baseball players from a class of workers entitled to certain minimum wages and overtime pay under the FLSA. The amendment, known as the Save America’s Pastime … Continue Reading
As high school students end their winter sports schedules and spring sports participants begin play across the country, the role and significance of agents and their use by amateur athletes as they prepare for possible selection in the upcoming Major League Baseball (MLB) amateur draft and the NHL Entry Draft is once again front and … Continue Reading
President Donald Trump has suggested that the National Football League’s television ratings decline was caused by “fans seeing those people (players) taking the knee when they’re playing our great national anthem.” Trump has urged fans to “leave the stadium” when players kneel during the national anthem and suggested that NFL team owners fire players who … Continue Reading
The National Labor Relations Board has found the individuals who produce electronic content for viewing during professional basketball games are employees, rather than independent contractors. Minnesota Timberwolves Basketball, LP, 365 NLRB No. 124 (2017). The Board reversed the decision of an NLRB regional director and reinstated a representation petition filed by the International Alliance of … Continue Reading
On the heels of the NCAA’s Board of Governor’s recent policy announcement requiring college coaches, athletics administrators and student-athletes to be educated in sexual violence prevention, eight United States Senators have forwarded a letter to the NCAA’s Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence. The letter from Richard Blumenthal, Robert Casey, Jr., Al Franken, Kirsten Gillibrand, … Continue Reading
Coaches, athletics administrators, and student-athletes must be educated in sexual violence prevention under a policy adopted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Board of Governors on August 8, 2017. The new policy provides that annually, every member institution’s president or chancellor, athletic director, and Title IX coordinator will be required to attest that the … Continue Reading
A New Jersey jury in the Superior Court of New Jersey for Camden County has awarded former Major League Baseball pitcher Mitchell Williams $1,565,333 in a wrongful termination action he filed against MLB Network, Inc. Mitchell Williams v. The MLB Network, Inc., et al., No. L-3675-14. Williams, nicknamed “Wild Thing,” played professional baseball from 1986 … Continue Reading
NFL agent Don Yee, longtime representative of Tom Brady, and a list of football notables including ESPN’s Adam Schefter and two-time Super Bowl winning coach Mike Shanahan intend to form the Pacific Pro Football League (“PPFL”) with four teams in the Southern California region and commence league play in the summer of 2018. Not seeking to … Continue Reading
