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 the ongoing Russian doping scandal, the latest on the Cardinals-Astros hacking case, NFL commissioner power issues, and more.

The Olympics

• WADA report confirms allegations of widespread Russian doping. The problem?  Neither the WADA code nor the Olympic charter address state-sponsored doping.  So the IOC has declined to issue a blanket ban of Russian athletes from the Olympics.  Here’s the decision.
• However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheld the IAAF ban on the Russian track and field team for the Rio Olympics. Here’s the decision.
• From Law in Sport, a review of legal issues to look for at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• Michael McCann explains why Draymond Green’s plea deal should keep him on Team USA.

NFL

• Now that Deflategate is effectively over, I wrote about the lessons we can learn from the case’s many missteps.
• Inside a Roger Goodell disciplinary From the NFLPA’s perspective, here’s what a commissioner should be.
• The NFL is insisting that players named in the Al-Jazeera PED report must give interviews to the league.

NBA

• The NBA plans to move the 2017 All-Star game from North Carolina to protest the state’s transgender bathroom law.
• More money, more problems: how this year’s crazy free agency will impact NBA collective bargaining.
• One issue that may be a problem during collective bargaining: a franchise tag
• The NBA D-League will alter its salary structure this coming season.

MLB

• In a huge win for MLB, a judge granted the league’s motion to decertify the minor league wage case as a collective action. Here’s the full order.
• Nathaniel Grow speculated on punishment for the Cardinals in the Astros data breach case. Michael McCann broke down Chris Correa’s prison sentence in the case.  Dan Werly also looked at the case in-depth.

NCAA

• The O’Bannon case took a twist in a recent filing with the Supreme Court.
• Jaime Miettinen compares the sexual assault cases of two college athletes: Brock Turner and Cory Batey.

Best of the Rest

• Jason Cruz discusses the fallout from Brock Lesnar’s potential drug violation.
• Wrestlers sue WWE over neurological injuries.
• The NHL has dismissed the neutral arbitrator who reduced Dennis Wideman’s suspension.
• Inside Scott Stallings’s PGA Tour suspension.
• Judge denies USADA’s attempt to depose a doctor in a doping investigation. Christopher George’s thoughts on the development.
• Federal judge rules against DraftKings, keeping case in Tennessee state court.