I was interviewed by Maggie Gray of Sports Illustrated Video on Notre Dame student Declan Sullivan, a 20-year-old junior, dying in a tragic accident while filming an Irish football practice earlier this week.
As noted by a commenter to an earlier post, a class action antitrust lawsuit was filed against the NCAA on Monday in United States District Court in San Francisco by former Rice University football player Joseph Agnew. Specifically, the suit alleges that NCAA rules prohibiting universities from offering guaranteed multi-year athletic scholarships, as well as rules limiting the number of scholarships a university can offer in a particular sport, violate federal antitrust law.
Today’s New York Times features a story on the Sports Fans Coalition, a nonprofit interest group in Washington D.C. formed for the purpose of organizing sports fans and representing their interests in public policy issues. Led by executive director Brian Frederick, the group has initially focused its attention on several issues affecting sports fans, including: “television blackouts (especially at taxpayer-funded stadiums), the Bowl Championship Series and the ballooning cost of attending games. Looming is the possibility of a lockout in the N.F.L. next year.” For more on the Sports Fans Coalition, check out its website. more…
In a recent interview with Salt Lake City’s ABC affiliate KTVX, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff announced that his office has completed a draft antitrust complaint to be filed against the Bowl Championship Series. The article indicates that the lawsuit would allege both illegal monopolization and price fixing claims against the BCS. Shurtleff stated that he will be meeting again shortly with antitrust officials in the U.S. Department of Justice, but maintains that he will file the suit alone if the DOJ elects not to pursue the matter. For more of Shurtleff’s interview, click here. For more on the strength of potential antitrust claims against the BCS, please see my forthcoming law review article. more…
People have been talking about this week’s Sports Illustrated, featuring a confessional article by former NFL agent Josh Luchs, who admits to paying numerous college players over the years to induce them to sign with him.
Here’s an excerpt from my new column published this evening:
more…
I have a new SI.com column on how the Red Sox ownership group is trying to buy Liverpool from a bank that loaned money to former Texas Rangers owners and Liverpool owner Tom Hicks. British and Texas courts have reached contradictory decisions on whether this sale should go through. Which country’s courts should trump? Please read the column to find out. more…
Recently published scholarship includes:
Erin Abbey-Pinegar, Note, The need for a global amateurism standard: international student athlete issues and controversies, 17 INDIANA JOURNAL OF GLOBAL LEGAL STUDIES 341 (2010)
Michael links to Darren Rovel’s column yesterday arguing why Brett Favre’s Wrangler ads are still running in the face of the current investigation into his behavior towards a Jets employee when he played for New York two years ago. I am not a Favre fan (and I am really not a fan of fawning media). I really don’t care whether Wrangler drops him or not, nor would I be surprised if it doesn’t drop him, since athletes have to really misbehave before sponsors begin bailing.
