Sports Law Links

Each week The Sports Esquires keep track of the sports law headlines so you don’t have to.  This week’s edition features Tom Brady’s appeal, the uncertainty of sports gambling, and a host of NCAA issues.

NCAA

• The NCAA has proposed a new NBA draft rule which would allow underclassmen to remain eligible even after entering the draft.
• UNC-Greensboro improperly certified eligibility and now faces penalties.
• Closing the book on the Ohio State tattoo scandal.
• Inside the breaking of a college football contract.
• Attendance monitoring programs are common in college athletics.
• Confessions of NCAA compliance officers.
• The NCAA is extending its family travel expense program.

NFL

• Tom Brady’s Deflategate appeal lasted ten hours. Michael McCann reviewed the arguments Brady may have used.  Tom Curran argues that the NFLPA is using Brady to wage battle against Goodell’s “despotic abuse of power.”  Why the stakes of the appeal are so high.
• The NFLPA filed a complaint against the Patriots for not allowing Malcolm Butler to participate in on-field activities. Why the decision puts Butler in an unusual position.
• Why is the NFL abandoning its tax-exempt status?

Sports Gambling

• Daniel Wallach previews the New Jersey sports betting decision.
• A closer look at the uncertain legal landscape for fantasy sports in Florida.
• Despite their questionable legality, daily fantasy sports enjoy a cushion by virtue of league partnerships.
• An overview of sports gambling in professional and amateur sports.
• AHL player pleads guilty to participating in illegal sports betting business.

MLB

• The FBI continues to investigate the Cardinals’ hack of the Astros.
• Entries in an old notebook show that Pete Rose bet on baseball as a player. Here’s one of the notebook entries.  Howard Wasserman on Rose’s future.

Basketball

• Improving the NBA’s competitive balance by fixing the NBA Draft.
• WNBA suspends Isiah Thomas’s bid to own part of the New York Liberty.

Best of the Rest

• Inside the jock tax – what it is and how players view it.
• UEFA’s break-even Financial Fair Play rule has been referred to the European Court of Justice.
• Tom Benson’s heirs are appealing the decision which found Benson mentally competent.
• A new article examines the compatibility between forced CAS arbitration and EU competition law.
• Volume 22 of The Sports Lawyers Journal is now available on Kindle and Nook.