Category: Sports

A Note by SY Yaw

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On February 2, 2021, EA Sports made an announcement that excited college sports fans everywhere––the NCAA football game that many had grown to love before its discontinuation in 2014 would be returning in 2023.[1] Along with this excitement came a reignited debate about whether student-athletes should be paid for the use of their name, image, and likeness (“NIL”); an issue that contributed to the game’s discontinuation.[2] Despite the profit made by the video game franchise, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (“NCAA”) longstanding prohibition on student-athletes receiving any compensation beyond their athletic scholarships precluded featured players from receiving compensation.

This Note will explore the intricacies of the debate about whether college athletes should be compensated for their services, primarily using revenue generating sports as a point of examination. Part II will introduce the backdrop of the debate, discussing the “players” … Read the rest

By: Alexander Karl

American women have been constantly fighting to have their voices heard and to achieve equal rights. It took until 1920 for women to receive the right to vote.[1] But it goes beyond voting as they sought to establish representation. For decades, women in the workforce have been underpaid to work in hazardous conditions. Eventually they began to strike, and in 1920, formed the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau aimed at representing the needs of wage-earning women in public policy.[2] Ultimately, laws such as the Equal Pay Act were put into place to “prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages by employers engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce.”[3] Nearly a century since the formation of the Bureau and decades since the passing of the Equal Pay Act, women are still fighting for fair compensation today.… Read the rest

By: Jack Meyer

New NBA commissioner Adam Silver made headlines recently when he wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece that he was in favor of the legalization of sports gambling.[1] This came as a surprise to some NBA fans, as this is the same sport that was previously rocked by a points shaving scandal involving former referee Tim Donaghey. Silver’s essential thesis was that since sports gambling is already widespread despite its illegality, a push toward legalization is long overdue. Though little hard data exists, some estimates suggest that nearly $400 billion is illegally wagered on sports each year,[2] including $9 billion wagered on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament alone.[3] With the emergence of the internet and fantasy sports, sports betting has perhaps never been more widespread and Silver’s call for legalization certainly does not fall on deaf ears. Proponents of sports gambling have called … Read the rest

By: Jack Meyer

Originally Posted: November 23, 2014

Wrigley Field has been the home of the Chicago Cubs since 1914 and is the second oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball. The iconic venue has remained largely unchanged throughout the past century, and only recently has Cubs ownership declared a substantial renovation a necessity. The Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908 and the Ricketts family, who took over ownership of the team in 2009, view an out of date ballpark as a serious impediment to fielding a winning team. The Rickettes have proposed a privately funded $575 million renovation to Wrigley Field. The renovation is expected to be completed in four phases beginning in 2014 and lasting until 2018 which will upgrade the stadium in a variety of ways such as providing additional seating capacity with outfield bleacher expansion, revenue generating advertising signs in the outfield, and a … Read the rest

On July 1, the National Basketball Association (NBA) instituted a lockout when its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired and negotiations, which began in January 2010, stalled. Over the past four months, owners and players have made multiple attempts to reach an agreement with no success. On October 10, NBA Commissioner David Stern canceled the first two weeks of the season and stated that both sides are still, “very far apart on virtually all issues… we just have a gulf that separates us.” A number of issues have been discussed including: revenue sharing, salary caps, luxury penalties, guaranteed contract lengths, and player exceptions. The owners and players have three ways to resolve these issues: bargaining, mediation, and/or legal action. After bargaining failed, a federal mediator was called upon and, after a week of mediation, Stern cut an additional two weeks. If mediation also fails to produce results, owners and players could … Read the rest