Sports law
Encyclopedia
Sports law is an umbrella term
used to describe the legal issues at work in the world of both amateur and professional sports. Sports law overlaps substantially with labor law, contract law, competition or antitrust law, and tort law. Issues like defamation and privacy rights
are also an integral aspect of sports law. The area of law was established as a separate and important entity only a few decades ago, coinciding with the rise of player-agents and increased media scrutiny of sports law topics.
, championship events and academic standards. The NCAA has enforcement power and can introduce a series of punishments up to the death penalty, the full shut-down of a sporting activity at an offending college.
Title IX
is an increasingly important issue in college sports
law. The Act, passed in 1972, makes it illegal for a federally funded institution to discriminate on the basis of sex or gender. In sports law, the piece of legislation often refers to the effort to achieve equality for women's sports in colleges. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is charged with enforcing this legislation. This agency implemented a three-prong tests for schools to adhere to: (1) Are the opportunities for female and male athletes proportionate to their enrollment; (2) Does the school have a history of expanding athletic opportunities for women; (3)Has the school demonstrated success in meeting the needs of its students. In 1995 the Gender in Equity Disclosure Act was passed to require schools to report annually the information publicly on male-female athletic participation rates, recruiting by gender, and financial support. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown University v. Cohen, is an important aspect of litigation for women sports.
Unlike intercollegiate sports, international amateur sports are run by a variety of organizations. The International Olympic Committee
(IOC) is made up of each country's Olympic Committee, which in turn recognizes a national governing body (NGB) for each Olympic related sport. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is the national governing body for all U.S. athletes in the Olympic and Pan-American Games
. The IOC is the international governing body for the summer and winter Olympic Games
. A critical piece of federal legislation, the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, guarantees certain due process rights including a hearing and an appeal for U.S. athletes under the governance of the USOC and its NGBs. The subject of drug test
ing especially in international sports like cycling and track and field
is under the jurisdiction of each sport's NGB and international federation, the USOC, the IOC, and the World Anti-Doping Agency
. The final arbitrator in resolving drug related disputes is the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).
(NLRB) accepted that players have the right to form unions or players associations. It is now common for professional athletes
to organize into associations or unions in order to negotiate collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) with their sport's owners. Under federal labor law, players and owners must negotiate mandatory issues, those relating to hours, wages and working conditions, in good faith. All other issues are deemed permissive, and do not have to be negotiated. Once a CBA is in place, players agree not to strike and owners promise not to lock out players. By way of example, the 2005 National Hockey League
(NHL) season was cancelled because of an owners' lockout after the parties' CBA had expired. In 1994 Major League Baseball
(MLB) lost half its season and the playoffs because ballplayers went out on strike over the issue of a salary cap. Historically, the most controversial issues subject to CBA negotiation are free agency
, minimum salary
, squad size, draft, salary cap
, grounds for termination and suspension.
In nearly all professional sports the issue of limits on the use of performance enhancing drugs has become an integral aspect of CBA negotiations. Drug policies are not uniform for all professional sports. Typically, each CBA explains the policy regarding drug testing, list of banned drugs
, violations, penalties, privacy issues, and rights of appeal. Drug violations may lead to suspensions and loss of salary. The BALCO
controversy involving high-profile professional athletes and coaches highlights the allegedly widespread use of performance enhancing drugs in different sports.
Player agents, made famous by the famous line from a player to his agent ("Show me the money!") in the Jerry Maguire movie, are generally certified by each sport's players' association. Once certified, player agents or contract advisors may negotiate individual player contracts. Agents that are entrusted to conduct business on a player's behalf owe a fiduciary duty, i.e., a duty of remain loyal, act honestly, behave ethically and act in the player's best interest at all time, when negotiating. More than half the states in the United States currently regulate the activities of player-agents in addition to union regulation for bad acts. Super agents like baseball's Scott Boras
and football's Drew Rosenhaus
are frequently the subject of media profiles. The first body to assist player agents in learning the ins and outs of contract negotiations, endorsements and media relations was the Association for Representatives of Athletes (ARPA). The co-founders and leaders of ARPA, since absorbed into the NFL Players Association, were Professor William Weston (University of Baltimore Law School) and Professor Michael E. Jones (University of Massachusetts Lowell). The late Bob Woolf is acknowledged as one of the first player agents when he assisted Boston Red Sox
pitcher Earl Wilson to negotiate his player contract.
Labor issues are not unique to United States law. The European Union
has had to deal with countless sports-related legal issues. The most important development in this area was the Bosman ruling
, in which the European Court of Justice
invalidated restrictions imposed by EU member countries and UEFA
(the governing body for football within Europe) on foreign EU nationals. Bosman was extended to countries with associate trading relationships with the EU by the Kolpak ruling. The 6+5 rule
is a current FIFA
rule that seeks to limit the effects of Bosman and its offshoots on football clubs, and has sparked considerable legal controversy in Europe.
. See Federal Baseball Club v. National League
. This interpretation has largely been eroded today. However, Major League Baseball
(MLB) may still retain limited anti-trust exemptions (unclear whether the entire exemption has been overruled by Flood Act because the true extent of the exemption was vague). It is important to note that the formation of players unions for the purpose of negotiating contracts with management is exempt from anti-trust scrutiny under labor law; and the by-product
of good faith negotiations between management and players unions in the form of a CBA is also exempt from anti-trust scrutiny.
s, where violent actions and injuries are more common and thus more expected (assumption of risk or self-defense). Spectators can also sue for negligence if their injuries could not have been expected (not foreseeable) given the nature of the sporting event they were attending. A baseball fan sitting in the bleachers could reasonable expect a baseball could come toward the seat, but a wrestling fan sitting courtside could not reasonably expect a wrestler to come flying his or her way.
Sports' tort law extends into other less obvious areas. Team doctors could be liable for medical malpractice, a form of negligence, for giving a player a false clean bill of health just so that player may continue to perform. A player who purposefully causes bodily harm
to another athlete, coach or spectator may be guilty of committing an intentional tort along with a criminal act of assault
and battery
. The law of defamation protects a person's good character or reputation. The publication of false information about a well-known athlete (public figure) may be actionable if it was published with a reckless disregard for the truth or actual malice
. The growth of non-traditional media outlets, e.g. web pages, instant messaging
, cable, etc. has added a new dynamic to this area of the law.
Closely related to the subject of torts in some ways, is the area of publicity rights. While the tort of defamation protects a person's reputation, the right of publicity
permits a person to commercial exploit his or her likeness, name and image. This area of sports law includes trademarks, tradenames, domain names and even copyrights.
in Oakland are all major contributors to the popularity of their respective sports and industries. The executive directors of the various players association, including one of the longest sitting union leaders - Donald Fehr
- of the MLB Players Association, also have become well known publicly for negotiating CBAs in the best interests of its players. The owners of each professional sports league elect a commissioner who serves as that sport's media voice. Perhaps the best known commissioner is the NBA's David Stern. Television and other media executives and reporters play a critical role in presenting sports before the public allowing instantaneous unfolding of occasionally civil and criminal sports acts. The so-called Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction during an NFL Super Bowl
half-time
show raised legal issues of broadcast indecency, by way of example.
The field of sports law as an area worthy of definition and academic inquiry owes a debt of gratitude to Professor Robert Berry who organized the material and taught the first course in Sports Law at Boston College Law School
. Shortly thereafter, the late Robert Waters(University of Miami Law School) and Professors Weistart and Lowell contributed substantially to the field. At the non-law school level, the first Sports Law course materials and classes were independently created by Professor Glenn Wong (University of Massachusetts Amherst
) and Professor Michael E. Jones (now at University of Massachusetts Lowell
).
The Tulane University Law School
offers a certificate in Sports Law and runs the Sports Lawyers Journal
, a student-run law journal funded by the Sports Lawyers Association (SLA).
At 1992 in Athens, was founded the International Association of Sports Law
(IASL) during the 1st International Congress on Sports Law. The objective of IASL is the cultivation and the development of the Science, the research and the teaching of Sports Law and the institution of the Olympic Games.
Umbrella term
An umbrella term is a word that provides a superset or grouping of concepts that all fall under a single common category. Umbrella term is also called a hypernym. For example, cryptology is an umbrella term that encompasses cryptography and cryptanalysis, among other fields...
used to describe the legal issues at work in the world of both amateur and professional sports. Sports law overlaps substantially with labor law, contract law, competition or antitrust law, and tort law. Issues like defamation and privacy rights
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
are also an integral aspect of sports law. The area of law was established as a separate and important entity only a few decades ago, coinciding with the rise of player-agents and increased media scrutiny of sports law topics.
Amateur Sports Law
Membership is voluntary. The NCAA operates along a series of bylaws that govern the areas of ethical conduct, amateur eligibility, financial aid, recruiting, gender equityGender equality
Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...
, championship events and academic standards. The NCAA has enforcement power and can introduce a series of punishments up to the death penalty, the full shut-down of a sporting activity at an offending college.
Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
is an increasingly important issue in college sports
College athletics
College athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies...
law. The Act, passed in 1972, makes it illegal for a federally funded institution to discriminate on the basis of sex or gender. In sports law, the piece of legislation often refers to the effort to achieve equality for women's sports in colleges. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is charged with enforcing this legislation. This agency implemented a three-prong tests for schools to adhere to: (1) Are the opportunities for female and male athletes proportionate to their enrollment; (2) Does the school have a history of expanding athletic opportunities for women; (3)Has the school demonstrated success in meeting the needs of its students. In 1995 the Gender in Equity Disclosure Act was passed to require schools to report annually the information publicly on male-female athletic participation rates, recruiting by gender, and financial support. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown University v. Cohen, is an important aspect of litigation for women sports.
Unlike intercollegiate sports, international amateur sports are run by a variety of organizations. The International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
(IOC) is made up of each country's Olympic Committee, which in turn recognizes a national governing body (NGB) for each Olympic related sport. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is the national governing body for all U.S. athletes in the Olympic and Pan-American Games
Pan American Games
The Pan-American or Pan American Games are a major event in the Americas featuring summer and formerly winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Pan American Games are the second largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics...
. The IOC is the international governing body for the summer and winter Olympic Games
Winter Olympic Games
The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...
. A critical piece of federal legislation, the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, guarantees certain due process rights including a hearing and an appeal for U.S. athletes under the governance of the USOC and its NGBs. The subject of drug test
Drug test
A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen – for example urine, hair, blood, sweat, or oral fluid / saliva – to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites...
ing especially in international sports like cycling and track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
is under the jurisdiction of each sport's NGB and international federation, the USOC, the IOC, and the World Anti-Doping Agency
World Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency , , is an independent foundation created through a collective initiative led by the International Olympic Committee . It was set up on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a result of what was called the "Declaration of Lausanne", to promote, coordinate and...
. The final arbitrator in resolving drug related disputes is the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).
Labor issues in sports
In 1967, the National Labor Relations BoardNational Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
(NLRB) accepted that players have the right to form unions or players associations. It is now common for professional athletes
Professional sports
Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations...
to organize into associations or unions in order to negotiate collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) with their sport's owners. Under federal labor law, players and owners must negotiate mandatory issues, those relating to hours, wages and working conditions, in good faith. All other issues are deemed permissive, and do not have to be negotiated. Once a CBA is in place, players agree not to strike and owners promise not to lock out players. By way of example, the 2005 National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
(NHL) season was cancelled because of an owners' lockout after the parties' CBA had expired. In 1994 Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
(MLB) lost half its season and the playoffs because ballplayers went out on strike over the issue of a salary cap. Historically, the most controversial issues subject to CBA negotiation are free agency
Free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....
, minimum salary
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
, squad size, draft, salary cap
Salary cap
In professional sports, a salary cap is a cartel agreement between teams that places a limit on the amount of money that can be spent on player salaries. The limit exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both...
, grounds for termination and suspension.
In nearly all professional sports the issue of limits on the use of performance enhancing drugs has become an integral aspect of CBA negotiations. Drug policies are not uniform for all professional sports. Typically, each CBA explains the policy regarding drug testing, list of banned drugs
Doping (sport)
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is commonly referred to by the term "doping", particularly by those organizations that regulate competitions. The use of performance enhancing drugs is mostly done to improve athletic performance. This is why many sports ban the use of performance...
, violations, penalties, privacy issues, and rights of appeal. Drug violations may lead to suspensions and loss of salary. The BALCO
Balco
Balco can refer to:* the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative - a controversial sports medicine/nutrition centre in Burlingame, California.* Balco balcony systems who develops, designs and manufactures balcony systems and glazing solutions....
controversy involving high-profile professional athletes and coaches highlights the allegedly widespread use of performance enhancing drugs in different sports.
Player agents, made famous by the famous line from a player to his agent ("Show me the money!") in the Jerry Maguire movie, are generally certified by each sport's players' association. Once certified, player agents or contract advisors may negotiate individual player contracts. Agents that are entrusted to conduct business on a player's behalf owe a fiduciary duty, i.e., a duty of remain loyal, act honestly, behave ethically and act in the player's best interest at all time, when negotiating. More than half the states in the United States currently regulate the activities of player-agents in addition to union regulation for bad acts. Super agents like baseball's Scott Boras
Scott Boras
Scott Boras is an American sports agent, specializing in baseball. He is the founder, owner and president of the Boras Corporation, a sports agency based in Newport Beach, Calif. that represents roughly 175 professional baseball clients, including many of the game's highest-profile players...
and football's Drew Rosenhaus
Drew Rosenhaus
Drew Rosenhaus is an American sports agent who represents professional football players. He owns the Miami-based sports agency, Rosenhaus Sports, and is known for using aggressive tactics on behalf of his clients who play in the National Football League.Rosenhaus currently represents approximately...
are frequently the subject of media profiles. The first body to assist player agents in learning the ins and outs of contract negotiations, endorsements and media relations was the Association for Representatives of Athletes (ARPA). The co-founders and leaders of ARPA, since absorbed into the NFL Players Association, were Professor William Weston (University of Baltimore Law School) and Professor Michael E. Jones (University of Massachusetts Lowell). The late Bob Woolf is acknowledged as one of the first player agents when he assisted Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
pitcher Earl Wilson to negotiate his player contract.
Labor issues are not unique to United States law. The European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
has had to deal with countless sports-related legal issues. The most important development in this area was the Bosman ruling
Bosman ruling
Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of association, and direct effect of article 39 of the EC Treaty...
, in which the European Court of Justice
European Court of Justice
The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...
invalidated restrictions imposed by EU member countries and UEFA
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....
(the governing body for football within Europe) on foreign EU nationals. Bosman was extended to countries with associate trading relationships with the EU by the Kolpak ruling. The 6+5 rule
6+5 rule
The 6+5 rule was a proposition for an association football rule adopted by FIFA during a meeting in May 2008- Definition :At the beginning of each match, each club must field at least six players eligible to play for the national team of the country of the club...
is a current FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
rule that seeks to limit the effects of Bosman and its offshoots on football clubs, and has sparked considerable legal controversy in Europe.
Antitrust Issues in Sports
Up until only a few decades ago, most United States professional sports leagues retained clauses in players' contracts that essentially made it so that the players could rarely leave their original teams by their own choice. These so-called reserve clauses were upheld because courts found that these sports leagues did not operate in interstate trade or commerce, meaning they did not fall under antitrust lawsCompetition law
Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, is law that promotes or maintains market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies....
. See Federal Baseball Club v. National League
Federal Baseball Club v. National League
Federal Baseball Club v. National League, , is a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Sherman Antitrust Act did not apply to Major League Baseball.-Background:...
. This interpretation has largely been eroded today. However, Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
(MLB) may still retain limited anti-trust exemptions (unclear whether the entire exemption has been overruled by Flood Act because the true extent of the exemption was vague). It is important to note that the formation of players unions for the purpose of negotiating contracts with management is exempt from anti-trust scrutiny under labor law; and the by-product
By-product
A by-product is a secondary product derived from a manufacturing process or chemical reaction. It is not the primary product or service being produced.A by-product can be useful and marketable or it can be considered waste....
of good faith negotiations between management and players unions in the form of a CBA is also exempt from anti-trust scrutiny.
Tort Law Issues
Until recently, torts were never a part of the landscape of sports law. However, in 1975 an Illinois' appeals court established the notion that players can be found guilty of negligence if their actions are "deliberate, willful or with a reckless disregard for the safety of another player so as cause injury to that player." See Nabozny v. Barnhill. Negligence torts are typically harder to prove in contact sportContact sport
Many sports involve a degree of player-to-player or player-to-object contact. The term "contact sport" is used in both team sports and combat sports, medical terminology and television game shows, such as the Gladiators and Wipeout, to certain degrees...
s, where violent actions and injuries are more common and thus more expected (assumption of risk or self-defense). Spectators can also sue for negligence if their injuries could not have been expected (not foreseeable) given the nature of the sporting event they were attending. A baseball fan sitting in the bleachers could reasonable expect a baseball could come toward the seat, but a wrestling fan sitting courtside could not reasonably expect a wrestler to come flying his or her way.
Sports' tort law extends into other less obvious areas. Team doctors could be liable for medical malpractice, a form of negligence, for giving a player a false clean bill of health just so that player may continue to perform. A player who purposefully causes bodily harm
Bodily harm
Bodily harm is a legal term of art used in the definition of both statutory and common law offences in Australia, Canada, England and Wales and other common law jurisdictions. It is a synonym for injury or bodily injury and similar expressions, though it may be used with a precise and limited...
to another athlete, coach or spectator may be guilty of committing an intentional tort along with a criminal act of assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
and battery
Battery (crime)
Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the fear of such contact.In the United States, criminal battery, or simply battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact...
. The law of defamation protects a person's good character or reputation. The publication of false information about a well-known athlete (public figure) may be actionable if it was published with a reckless disregard for the truth or actual malice
Actual malice
Actual malice in United States law is a condition required to establish libel against public officials or public figures and is defined as "knowledge that the information was false" or that it was published "with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not." Reckless disregard does not...
. The growth of non-traditional media outlets, e.g. web pages, instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
, cable, etc. has added a new dynamic to this area of the law.
Closely related to the subject of torts in some ways, is the area of publicity rights. While the tort of defamation protects a person's reputation, the right of publicity
Personality rights
"Personality rights" is a common or casual reference to the proper term of art "Right of Publicity". The Right of Publicity can be defined simply as the right of an individual to control the commercial use of his or her name, image, likeness or other unequivocal aspects of one's identity...
permits a person to commercial exploit his or her likeness, name and image. This area of sports law includes trademarks, tradenames, domain names and even copyrights.
Business and Academic Aspects of Sports Law
The leaders of the businesses of sports include the heads of the major international and national amateur organizations of the IOC, USOC, and their respective NGBs. The owners of major professional sports teams ranging from the Rooney family in Pittsburgh to Al DavisAl Davis
Allen "Al" Davis was an American football executive. He was the principal owner of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League from 1970 to 2011...
in Oakland are all major contributors to the popularity of their respective sports and industries. The executive directors of the various players association, including one of the longest sitting union leaders - Donald Fehr
Donald Fehr
Donald M. Fehr is the executive director of the National Hockey League Players Association. He previously served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association from 1986-2009....
- of the MLB Players Association, also have become well known publicly for negotiating CBAs in the best interests of its players. The owners of each professional sports league elect a commissioner who serves as that sport's media voice. Perhaps the best known commissioner is the NBA's David Stern. Television and other media executives and reporters play a critical role in presenting sports before the public allowing instantaneous unfolding of occasionally civil and criminal sports acts. The so-called Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction during an NFL Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
half-time
Half-time
In some team sports such as association football and rugby, matches are played in two halves. Half-time is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match...
show raised legal issues of broadcast indecency, by way of example.
The field of sports law as an area worthy of definition and academic inquiry owes a debt of gratitude to Professor Robert Berry who organized the material and taught the first course in Sports Law at Boston College Law School
Boston College Law School
Boston College Law School is one of the six professional graduate schools at Boston College. Located approximately 1.5 miles from the main Boston College campus in Chestnut Hill, Boston College Law School is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts.With approximately 800 students and...
. Shortly thereafter, the late Robert Waters(University of Miami Law School) and Professors Weistart and Lowell contributed substantially to the field. At the non-law school level, the first Sports Law course materials and classes were independently created by Professor Glenn Wong (University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
) and Professor Michael E. Jones (now at University of Massachusetts Lowell
University of Massachusetts Lowell
The University of Massachusetts Lowell is a public university in Lowell, Massachusetts, and part of the University of Massachusetts system...
).
The Tulane University Law School
Tulane University Law School
Tulane University Law School is the law school of Tulane University. It is located on Tulane's Uptown campus in New Orleans, Louisiana. Established in 1847, it is the 12th oldest law school in the United States....
offers a certificate in Sports Law and runs the Sports Lawyers Journal
Sports Lawyers Journal
The Sports Lawyers Journal is a law journal edited by Tulane University Law School students and published by the Sports Lawyers Association . The Journal is annually distributed to over 1000 lawyers, professors, law students, and other readers...
, a student-run law journal funded by the Sports Lawyers Association (SLA).
At 1992 in Athens, was founded the International Association of Sports Law
International Association of Sports Law
International Association of Sports Law is an international scientific association founded during the 1st International Congress on Sports Law, December 11–13, 1992 in Athens and seated in Olympia, Greece...
(IASL) during the 1st International Congress on Sports Law. The objective of IASL is the cultivation and the development of the Science, the research and the teaching of Sports Law and the institution of the Olympic Games.
External links
- Sports related legal forms.
- Court of Arbitration for Sport
- ASSER International Sports Law Centre
- International Academy of Sportslaw Practitioners and Executives
- International Association of Sports Law
- British Association for Sport and the Law
- Sport and the Law Journal
- Entertainment and Sports Law Journal
- Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association
- Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Journal - http://www.anzsla.com.au/anzslj/
- American Bar Association - Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries
- Marquette Sports Law Review
- Derecho Deportivo en Línea
- http://www.the-aasl.org/en/index.php Asian Association of Sports Law