Jury selection in the Barry Bonds perjury trial takes place today, with opening statements by the prosecution and defense set for tomorrow. I discuss the trial with NPR today on the Morning Edition program.
This is the first post in a series of posts that will review of legal, regulatory, and contractual Issues in Boxing and MMA from the past several months. These posts are largely taken from a longer article I wrote for 8 Count News.
My Prawfs co-blawger Matt Bodie offers a ranking of college sports loyalties–covering everything from undergrad institution to law school to current employer to spouse’s teams to hometown team. Offer your comments here or at Matt’s post. more…
On Monday, April 4, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., the Yale Law School Sports and Entertainment Law Society will be hosting a panel on contemporary sports law issues. The panel will be open to the public.
The Oakland Athletics are currently looking to hire an assistant legal counsel with at least 4 years of experience in a corporate/transactional practice. For more information regarding the position, check out the job ad available here.On Sports Illustrated Video I discuss the implications of yesterday’s findings in the death of a Notre Dame student who was killed when the hydraulic lift he was on while taping a team football practice fell over in 53 mph winds.
NBA Ref Bill Spooner has filed a defamation action in federal court against the Associate Press and AP reporter Jon Krawczynski, based on a tweet that Krawczynski sent during a Timberwolves-Rockets game in January. Following a foul call on the Wolves, Wolves Coach Kurt Rambis disputed the call in a conversation with Spooner. According to the complaint, Spooner told Rambis he would review the call (on video) at halftime and get back to him about it. Rambis then said, “‘that’s fine, but how do I get those points back.’” Krawczynski later tweeted “Ref Bill Spooner told Rambis he’d “get it back” after a bad call. Then he made an even worse call on Rockets. That’s NBA officiating folks.” In the complaint, Spooner denies responding to Rambis’ comment or to making any make-up call. The complaint asks for damages and an injunction ordering the removal of the tweet and/or a retraction.
One aspect of the recent decertification by the NFL Players Association that I believe has (understandably) been somewhat overlooked is what the NFLPAs decision tells us about the role that the threat of decertification plays in labor disputes between sports leagues and players unions generally. Up until now, the general scholarly consensus has been that players unions are quite hesitant to decertify during a labor dispute given the potential rights they risk losing (such as previously negotiated insurance and pension benefits), and as a result decertification is only a weapon of last resort.
Unfortunately, the NFL – NFLPA negotiations have just ended in failure and the NFLPA filed for decertification minutes ago. The future for the two sides and NFL football is hazy, but on SI.com I offer one possible road map of what we might expect. more…
