Sports Law Links

Each week The Sports Esquires keep track of the sports law headlines so you don’t have to.  In this week’s edition: MLS CBA negotiations continue, the UNC academic scandal gets worse, and Adrian Peterson’s suspension is overturned.

NFL

• Judge Doty ruled in favor of the NFLPA’s motion to vacate arbitrator Harold Henderson’s suspension of Adrian Peterson. The full opinion.  What’s the legal fallout of the decision?  Is it time to accept neutral arbitration?
• Michael McCann continues his daily coverage of the Aaron Hernandez trial: Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, and Day 17.
• Trademarks: “I’m just here so I don’t get fined.” The Redskins argue canceling their trademark violates free speech.
• Andrew Brandt on salary cap restructuring, Larry Fitzgerald’s contract, and a Los Angeles stadium agreement.
• Members of Congress urge Goodell to consider docking draft picks as punishment for failing to address domestic violence.
• What’s up next for the NFL competition committee?
• The NFLPA issues a statement opposing Wisconsin’s right-to-work legislation.
• The inaugural Tulane Professional Football Negotiation Competition takes place later this month.
• The Benson saga continues: doctors have been selected to evaluate Saints owner Tom Benson’s mental state.
• Patrick Hruby details how the NFLPA election is turning ugly.

MLB

• Who’s winning the MLB salary arbitration game? Data from 1974 to 2015 via Maury Brown.
• Brain boosters and baseball: how Scalia’s Martin dissent may have impacted MLB decision-making.
• Nathaniel Grow on Josh Hamilton and the MLB’s joint drug agreement. Hamilton faces a possible 25 game suspension.
• The MLBPA is monitoring the Cubs’ handling of Kris Bryant.
• MLB players will undergo mandatory domestic violence education.
• A California legislator has proposed a ban on all tobacco products at MLB stadiums.
• Alex Rodriguez pays the consequences of rejecting a settlement with MLB.

NCAA

• The next layer of the UNC academic scandal: improper graduate admission of athletes.
• Sean Dotson: When Eligibility Decisions Break Social Media.
• How will cost of attendance change the landscape of college athletics?
• Concussion expert Dr. Robert Cantu takes aim at the NCAA’s concussion settlement.
• The baffling and historic recruiting penalties levied against LSU.
• Defensive coordinator John Chavis sues his old school and his new school. More details.

Soccer

• MLS negotiations Can players survive a strike against MLS?  Can MLS afford a strike?
• FIFA will not compensate clubs and leagues unhappy about its decision to move the 2022 World Cup to winter.
• Why FIFA and Fox agreed to a deal for the 2026 World Cup.

Best of the Rest

• New Jersey files its sports betting brief.
• Sports gambling: too prevalent to remain illegal?
• What happened at the 2015 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference?
• Gaming the System: the exemption of professional sports teams from the Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Kevin Carpenter on the standard of proof for match-fixing.
• The International Olympic Committee relaxes Rule 40 relating to sponsorships.
• Eric Lindros has filed a defamation suit against a former NHL referee.