I.                   Introduction

We hear the debate all the time.  Some sports writer will call for college athletes to be paid.[1]  Another will rebut that they are given hundreds of thousands of dollars in college tuition, books and housing.[2]  This debate is surely to drag out as long as there are intercollegiate sports, no matter what the rule on the NCAA’s books is either way.  As it stands, the NCAA and its member schools profits by selling the publicity rights of its athletes to video gaming companies, as well as market their likenesses themselves even long after the player has graduated or moved on from intercollegiate sports.  This article focuses on the recent athlete initiated cases regarding this problem, as well as a potential solution.

II.                The Issue of the Use of Player Likenesses and Publicity is Finally Being Brought to … Read the rest

I.                   Introduction 

The sports business industry is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the United States. In fact, the Sports Business Journal estimates the size of the sports business industry to be $213 billion in the United States alone. [1] Furthermore, sports business law is a dynamic field of law with new issues arising on an almost daily basis due to courts decisions, new legislation, and regulation. [2] One piece of new legislation, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), [3] will have a profound impact on employment decisions in professional sports. This article discusses the implications of GINA on professional sports: specifically, part II of the articles discusses GINA in detail, part III discusses GINA’s impact on professional sports, part IV discusses GINA’s economic impact on professional sports, and part V provides some concluding remarks.

II.                The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) 

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination … Read the rest

I.            Introduction 

            More than 3.5 million sports-related concussions take place in the United States each year. [1] The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research indicates that the largest number of sports-related fatalities occur at the high school level as a consequence of  heat stroke, heart problems, aorta tears, neck injuries, and Pulmonary Emboli. [2] The likelihood of injury may even be elevated at specific points during a sporting competition. [3] A study published in the Research in Sports Medicine revealed that 16 percent of injuries occur at the beginning of a football game, 54 percent during the middle, and 30 percent at the conclusion. [4] Perhaps the most shocking reality is that the majority of the legal cases which develop as a result of these sports injuries and fatalities will be dismissed in court. [5] The reason being, that on every occasion a person voluntarily … Read the rest

By Helena Varnavas

I.   Introduction

          There is an ongoing debate among the media and cheer world as to whether or not cheerleading should be recognized as a sport under Title IX.[1] A recent poll found that 60% of people thought cheerleading was a sport, while 35% did not.[2] Cheerleaders sometimes a> Opponents argue that because the primary function of cheerleading is not competition, it does not meet the qualifications of a sport.[3][4] The answer to this debate depends on your definition of a sport.[5] The NCAA, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) all have their own definition of “sport” that a competitive cheerleading squad could possibly qualify under.[6] The question also brings up other issues that would need to be addressed.  Cheerleading is an estimated half-billion dollar industry,[7] and an underlying problem to … Read the rest

I.                   Introduction 

Virtually everyone has looked for a job and found that they just did not meet the previous experience requirements laid out in the description.  The salary looks great, but you may not have three to five years of Big Four accounting experience.  Society generally rewards those that have been through the rigors of the profession before.  However, the growing trend in the NFL is to hand over bags of money to college athletes who have not yet played a snap in the NFL or faced the challenge of competing against the world’s best. [1] The NFL does have a rookie salary cap in place, with a pool of money allotted to each team stating how much it can spend on salaries. [2]  However, guaranteed money and signing bonuses have allowed teams to continue to shell out more and more money for their new … Read the rest

… Read the rest

I. Introduction

      In fantasy sports leagues, fans draft current major
league players to create their own imaginary roster, with the success of each
team hinging on how each player performs throughout the season.[1] Internet sites such as Yahoo! and ESPN pay
several million dollars for the right to operate fantasy leagues.[2] Major
League Baseball (“MLB”), and St. Louis-based CBC Distribution and Marketing
Inc. (“CBC”) have been entangled in a legal dispute over whether MLB players’
names may be used in fantasy baseball leagues.[3] This dispute is noteworthy because the
fantasy sports industry generates over $1.5 billion dollars annually.[4] Should MLB prevail, they will hold exclusive
rights to players’ names and statistics and may withhold such, likely causing
fantasy baseball to be much less appealing to fans.[5] 

II.  Background

On August 8, 2006, a federal judge granted summary judgment to CBC and
denied summary judgment for MLB, stating that the baseball players’ … Read the rest