Sports Law Links

Each week The Sports Esquires keep track of the sports law headlines, so you don’t have to. The NFL season may be over, but the league’s sports law issues are not. Enjoy our post-Super Bowl edition of Sports Law Links.

NFL

• Ian Rapoport has the latest on the deflated footballs investigation. Michael McCann on some of the revelations. Attorney Ted Wells of Paul Weiss will lead the NFL’s probe. Our own Avi Sommer argues the scandal is here to stay. Andrew Brandt agrees. The NFL is consulting with a physicist.
• Former Patriots’ player Aaron Hernandez’s trial has begun. Analyzing the opening statements in the Hernandez trial. The judge permitted jurors to watch the Super Bowl.
• Retired players who opt out of the NFL concussion settlement are taking a big risk.
• Saints owner Tom Benson has filed a motion to dismiss the interdiction petition against him. Why Benson’s prenuptial agreement would not prevent his wife from taking over the Saints.
• The NFLPA is contesting Roger Goodell’s authority to direct Adrian Peterson to attend counseling.
• NFLPA president Eric Winston speaks out on the league’s new personal conduct policy.
• The Atlanta Falcons could face discipline after allegations surfaced that they piped in crowd noise while opposing teams were on offense.
• A brief look at some of the legal issues surrounding NFL ticket sales.
• The cheerleader wage suits continue with a new suit against the Raiders. A new California bill would classify NFL cheerleaders as employees.
• The NFL has named Elizabeth Nabel as its Chief Medical Officer as a response to concussion litigation concerns.

NCAA

• How the college athlete labor discussion has shifted.
• Here’s the antitrust professors’ amici curiae brief in the O’Bannon appeal. The rest of the amicus briefs in the appeal are here.
• Jeffrey Kessler distinguishes his suit from Ed O’Bannon’s.

Soccer

• Andrew Visnovsky on MLS and FIFA’s third party ownership ban.
• Michael McCann on the looming MLS CBA fight. Mike Jarosi has two interesting pieces on the MLS CBA dispute about the possibility of antitrust litigation and alternatives to free agency.

MLB

• MLB is making it harder for Cuban players to enter the league with contract restrictions.
• The Georgia Supreme Court will hear the appeal over the financing plans for the new Atlanta Braves stadium.
• Baseball arbitration: a Tulane tradition.

Sports Betting

• The legal fallout over Super Bowl betting.
• The case for legalized sports gambling.
• The growing popularity of sports betting legislation.
• Daniel Wallach on a brotherly conflict of interest in the New Jersey sports betting case.
• A look at the massive underground of Canadian sports betting.

Best of the Rest

• The underside of sports ownership.
• Zach Lowe’s take on the NBA’s new ownership cap.
• Tim Duncan has sued his financial advisor for fraud.
• The British Basketball League is seeking legal advice over licensing issues.
• Tennis and Tax Law: how star players protect their income.
• Rory McIlroy comments on his legal dispute with the Horizon management agency.
• New York City considers legislation requiring doctors to be on the sidelines of youth football games.