New Law Review Article: "A Short Treatise on Amateurism and Antitrust Law"

It is with great excitement that I share the first draft of my newest law review article, "A Short Treatise on Amateurism and Antitrust Law: Why the NCAA's 'No Pay' Rules Violate Section One of the Sherman Act."

This article is intended to serve as roadmap for challenging NCAA rules that prevent student-athlete pay.  The article is currently under review by several law journals.  Reader feedback is both encouraged and appreciated.

Phooey

The plan all along was to be on campus last night to grab a few pictures and thoughts from old friend Kevin Demoff '99, the St. Louis Rams executive vice president of football operations and chief operating officer, and former safety Tony Pastoors '10, the team's senior assistant of player personnel. The pair were speaking at Floren Varsity House with students interested in pursuing a career in

Koop And Football

After hearing from a loyal reader who reminded me about the football part of the story, I hit the library and pulled together a few excerpts from Koop: The Memoirs of America's Family Doctor, the 1993 book by C. Everett Koop '37, the former U.S. Surgeon General who died this week at age 96.

Regarding his high school career Koop wrote:

The teachers encouraged me to try new things. I loved the

Enforcing Johnny Football's Intangible Property Rights

Rick Reilly's column today, Selling Johnny Football, provides an interesting perspective on Johnny Manziel's trademark lawsuit filed in Texas against a man who was selling T-shirts that read, "Keep Calm and Johnny Football."  It was reported that Texas A&M's compliance office recently received a ruling from the NCAA that an athlete can keep earnings (a damages award) obtained in a lawsuit.  Why the NCAA thinks it must first give an athlete permission before he can sue someone for stealing his intangible property rights and keep the damages award if successful is beyond me.  Would an athlete also need the NCAA's permission to sue someone for stealing his wallet or computer?

But in any event, Reilly raises the point in his column that now that the NCAA has given its "blessing" for Manziel to enforce his legal rights against those profiting off his identity, he should go after the NCAA and Texas A&M now.   Reilly asks:  "How can the NCAA see the evil in some citizen cashing in unfairly on Manziel's name but not when it does it?  How can Texas A&M send out more than 60 cease-and-desist letters to people selling Manziel items, as it says it has, and not accept one itself?" 

More Marlins Problems: Jeffrey Loria Tries to Defend his Public Subsidy

Last Thursday marked the five year anniversary of the thirteen commissioners of Miami-Dade County approving a plan to spend $347 million in taxpayer money to build a new 37,000 seat retractable-roof ballpark for the Miami Marlins -- a decision that I have previously criticized on Sports Law Blog here.

In acknowledgement of this event, I wrote an article on Thursday for Forbes SportsMoney that posed the question of whether an empty Marlins Park will create backlash against sports stadium subsidies for other teams.

In the article, I noted the following:

The Marlins stadium deal is such an easy target because in no other case has the recipient of huge subsidies so brazenly turned around and slashed team payroll to lowest in the league.  Furthermore, the Marlins stadium agreement only required the team to pay nearly a third of the building costs, while it awarded Marlins ownership 100% of stadium-related revenues -- not exactly what sounds like an equal partnership.

On Sunday, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria fired back -- taking out an advertisement in each of the major Miami newspapers -- defending both his ownership style and the Marlins Park deal itself.  Presumably, Loria's response was based in part based on my Thursday article in Forbes.

Among other things, Loria told the Miami-Dade community:

The ballpark issue has been repeatedly reported incorrectly and there are some very negative accusations being thrown around.  It ain't true folks.  Those who have attacked us are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.  The majority of public funding came from hotel taxes, the burden of which is incurred by tourists who are visiting our city, NOT the resident taxpayers.  The Marlins organization also agreed to contribute $161.2 million toward the ballpark.

Nevertheless, Loria's letter is easy to rebut -- even based exclusively on the facts in 'his' advertisement.  For example, the fact that the ballpark was paid for with tourist taxes shouldn't matter because the tourist taxes could have just as easily been spent of public projects such as schools and hospitals, new public housing programs, or even as a way of maintaining the community's existing public works projects while lowering the community's overall tax base.

In addition, Loria's purported $161.2 million contributed toward the ballpark is not a mitigating factor because the ballpark deal allows Loria to keep all of the revenues from selling naming rights to the stadium -- a revenue stream that overnight reasonably could offset much, if not all, of the $161.2 million investment.  Moreover, even if Loria does not sell these naming rights himself, the value of this right will clearly be factored into the Marlins ultimate sale price -- further increasing the Marlins owner's return on investment.

I am not sure the purpose of Jeffrey Loria's recent advertisement, but I fully encourage continued dialogue on the topic.  While I believe his arguments with respect to the stadium are without merit, I at least commend him for keeping the conversation about sports stadium subsidies firmly in the public eye.

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For a more in-depth view of the issues surrounding sports stadium subsidies, please see the following resources

1. Sports & the City: How to Curb Professional Sports Teams' Demands for Free Public Stadiums (Rutgers Journal of Law & Public Policy, 2008).

2. How to Curb Professional Sports' Bargaining Power vis-a-vis the American City (Virginia Sports & Entertainment Law Journal, 2003).

3. The House that Taxpayers Built: Exploring the Rise in Publicly Funded Baseball Stadiums from 1953 Through the Present (Villanova Sports & Ent. Law Journal, 2009).

Book Review: "The Extra 2%" by Jonah Keri

This book review was originally posted on Reed Reads.

I got the chance to read The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First by Jonah Keri and thought this it was a fantastic book.

The book begins by talking about the early parts of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays franchise - how they came to be, and how they first ran things under the initial owner and general manager. It was a period marked by futility, alternating strategies, and a lot of losing. Fans lost interest, and the D-Rays were a joke of an MLB franchise.

Around the mid 2000s, they were sold to a buyer that had a history on Wall Street. The people he hired to run the team also had extensive experience on Wall Street, which is where the title of the book comes from. It talks about some of the areas where the Rays looked for inefficiencies in the market to build the baseball team, since they knew they would not have the financial resources to compete against teams like the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.

The book's most obvious comparison is Moneyball by Michael Lewis. It wants to be like that, and reaches out for the same fans that liked Moneyball. It is not that good - the detail into what makes the Rays successful is not shown in nearly as much detail as Lewis' famous book, but it is a great look into an MLB franchise. I would recommend it to baseball fans.

Ball Security Refresher Course

It's all Ball Security these days!  Perhaps you need a refresher course!

Thanks to Chris at Smart Football for giving me a refresher course with this article link he provided.  After reading the article I realized, "I was wrong!  There is a better way to hold on to the football!"  Let me show you the old way that I learned from a national championship coach (who is wrong too, lol):

.

I have two hands on the football in the picture above and this is not awful, but I have both an upward force and a downward force on the football.  Tyrone Willingham has a RB video that talks about the instability created by having your arms work against each other with the football in the middle.  Below is the way that LSU RB Coach Frank Wilson describes from the above article link that I believe is the best way to hold onto the football:

Besides the superior picture quality of my new laptop vs. my old laptop, the new method has some advantages over the old method.  First, both of my arms are working to press the ball upward against my chest.  This helps to keep the football tighter to my chest (Fundamental #3).  Second, and even more importantly, this method helps to keep my wrist above my elbow (Fundamental #2) unlike the previous picture where my top hand is pushing my wrist down to where it is almost below my elbow.  I re-did the video and added the corrections.

Fundamentals of Ball Security - Barry Hoover from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

This link should allow you to download this video.  To download any Google Drive file from this website, go to the top left of the page, click on File then on Download.

Fundamentals of Ball Security:

1. Two Finger Claw
2. Wrist Above Elbow
3. Ball Tight to Chest
4. Tuck Elbow In
5. Opposite Hand Over Football on Contact
6. Keep Pads Low

Fumbles - I from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

This Sports Science video with Rudi Johnson has MMA guys trying to knock out the football in an old-fashioned gauntlet drill.  To see how they do actually knock the ball out, go to the 7:00 mark.

A True Friend of Football

John Clayton
(Dartmouth photo)

Re-reading the obit for John Clayton '51 in today's local daily, two paragraphs are particularly worth reproducing here:

In 1947, John graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., where he excelled at football, basketball, and baseball. After high school, John headed to Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. A standout quarterback for the Big Green, “Johnny”

Going With the Flow

Teddy Reed(Courtesy of Dartmouth)

This one caught me by surprise although I might have seen it coming. Graduating senior defensive lineman Teddy Reed has taken his game from the gridiron to the Dartmouth lacrosse field. In addition to his football prowess, the 6-foot-4, 280-pound defenseman was an All-Eastern Massachusettslax  all-star and All-Cape Ann League lacrosse player. Check out his

Watch 2013 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference On-Line

With due respect to the many great sport law and sports business conferences held each year -- and there are some excellent ones -- the best one is the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (March 1-2). I'm honored to be a panelist at this year's event; this is my fifth year in a row as a panelist and each year it gets better - a credit to the conference's organizers, Daryl Morey and Jessica Gelman. I'll be on the Beyond Reason: Sports Labor Negotiations panel on Saturday March 2.

The conference is sold out, but at the following link you can register to watch many of the panels on-line. I always gain a ton of insight at this conference, which this year features as panelists Adam Silver, Michael Lewis, Mark Cuban, Stan Kaster, among many others, and has an awesome set of panels.

If you aren't attending, the webcast is a must-watch if you're interested in our industry.

Super Showing

Snapped this quick shot of Memorial Field on Thursday.
Several spring teams have used the field for practice.


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A sweet letter to the editor in our local daily newspaper under the headline, Super Bowl Treat at Richmond School:

The Richmond Middle School Student Council along with the rest of the school would like to sincerely thank Dartmouth football running back Cody Patch and quarterback

New Sports Illustrated Column: When spectators flee a race crash, is video of it news or copyright protected sports event?

Many spectators were hurt in yesterday's Daytona race because of a collision. A high school sophomore took a video of the crash and fans screaming and trying to get help. NASCAR wanted the video taken off YouTube, which for a while removed it but then put it back up.

Do we have a legal right to see this video? I explore in a new column for Sports Illustrated | SI.com. Here's an excerpt:

But only about 12 seconds of Anderson's 1 minute, 16 video is actually of a NASCAR race; the rest centers on the crash and fans scrambling for cover from flying debris. NASCAR's ownership over this latter part of the video is questionable, since "facts" and "news" are not subject to copyright protection and the First Amendment safeguards public access to them. The NBA knows this quite well. Back in 1997, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the NBA could not claim copyright in its stats and scores, which Motorola had broadcast through a wireless paging device known as SportsTrax. The reasoning? Facts and news are not copyright protected. 

It could be argued that at about 13 seconds into Anderson's video, the race transformed from a copyright-protected NASCAR event into a not-copyright-protected news event. Fans screaming and fleeing for cover is not part of any race, but is certainly newsworthy. On the other hand, NASCAR might contend that because crashes are (unfortunately) not uncommon in NASCAR races, a crash should be considered a continuation of a copyright-protected NASCAR event. This is a difficult area of law and highlights how legal protection for "sports events" and "news events" may not always be the same.

To read the rest of the column, click here.  Here's the video:

The Economics of the Infield Fly Rule

My longer treatment of the infield fly rule, The Economics of the Infield Fly Rule, is now available on SSRN and forthcoming in Utah Law Review. The abstract is below. Comments welcome.

 No rule in all of sports has generated as much legal scholarship as baseball’s Infield Fly Rule. Interestingly, however, no one has explained or defended that rule on its own terms as an internal part of the rules and institutional structure of baseball as a game. This paper takes on that issue, explaining both why baseball should have the Infield Fly Rule and why a similar rule is not necessary or appropriate in seemingly comparable, but actually quite different, baseball situations. The answer lies in the dramatic cost-benefit disparities present in the infield fly and absent in most other baseball game situations.

The infield fly is defined by three relevant features: 1) it contains an extreme disparity of costs and benefits inherent in that play that overwhelmingly favors one team and disfavors the other team; 2) the favored team has total control over the play and the other side is powerless to stop or counter the play; and 3) the cost-benefit disparity arises because one team has intentionally failed (or declined) to do what tordinary rules and strategies expect it to do and the extreme cost-benefit disparity incentivizes that negative behavior every time the play arises. When all three features are present on a play, a unique, situation-specific limiting rule becomes necessary; such a rule restricts one team’s opportunities to create or take advantage of a dramatic cost-benefit imbalance, instead imposing a set outcome on the play, one that levels the playing field. The Infield Fly Rule is baseball’s prime example of this type of limiting rule. By contrast, no other baseball situation shares all three defining features, particularly in having a cost-benefit disparity so strongly tilted toward one side. The cost-benefit balance in these other game situations is more even; these other situations can and should be left to ordinary rules and strategies. 

The Unofficial List

With the addition of tight end Blake Orvis, this is the best guess of the recruiting class. As always, heights, weights and perhaps most significantly, positions, are speculative. Whether a new name means another name should be dropped is unknown and likely will remain unknown until the official announcement of the class in late spring. In the meantime this is the best guess at who is headed

Add Another TE

Various Twitter feeds – including his own – are reporting that Blake Orvis, a 6-foot-3 or (6-4, 225) pound (or 235) tight end from Boone HS in Orlando, Fla. is headed Dartmouth way. Find a story on him here on the "Cane Insider." From that story:

As a prospect, he has the size you look for at 6-foot-4 and 225-pounds. He has great hands and can block well. When he goes after a ball, the

Watch and Listen Closely

Incoming offensive lineman Mike Langman of Naperville North (Ill.) is featured in this "signing day" video. Introductory remarks note that the 6-5, 275-pound Langman had "numerous opportunities to play at BCS schools," (one of which made a late run at him and actually offered a scholarship while he was on his Dartmouth visit). The video is a little fuzzy and the sound could be cleaner but listen

@InsideSportsLaw

Fellow sports lawyers, the Sports Law Blog has been a leading site for delivering cutting edge commentary and insight in the field of sports law.  As this leading site celebrates its 10th Anniversary in November, with the support of our Editor-in-Chief Michael McCann, we decided it was time to expand our efforts to brand and promote the tremendous talents of our contributors.

A natural first step was to generate a Twitter handle and feed for ourselves.  Thus, today, we are happy to announce the launch of the official "The Sports Law Blog" Twitter feed -- @InsideSportsLaw.  The goal is to generate additional attention to both the information we post on our website, as well as promoting the industry's leaders in the field of sports law--our writers.

While the use of this Blog, the newly created Twitter account, and other related future efforts will evolve over time, we hope that our efforts to offer both insight and commentary on the world of sports law remain unparalleled.

Sad News

The local paper brings news this morning of the passing of former Dartmouth football standout John Clayton '51, at age 83. From a 2008 story about the 1948 team written by former Dartmouth SID Jack DeGange:

John Clayton, a sophomore from Chelmsford, Mass., would win the quarterback job over highly regarded classmates Bob McCraney and Gil (Ace) Mueller after Sullivan - the QB in 1946 and 1947 -

Daily Fantasy Sports and the Law: The First Legal Challenge

On March 21, 2012, Illinois lawyer Chris Langone filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Fan Duel and one of its purported winners, Patrick Kaiser.  The lawsuit seeks to recover the third-party losses of Fan Duel's contestants based on Illinois's version of the Statute of Anne -- a common law statute that sometimes allows third parties to recover unclaimed winnings from illegal gambling transactions.

The posture of this case resembles the 2006 case Humphrey v. Viacom, with two major differences: (1) case is brought in Illinois rather than New Jersey, and (2) the case is brought against a daily fantasy sports game rather than a traditional, full-season fantasy game.

Fan Duel has filed a motion to dismiss that argues, among other things, that its games should not fall under Illinois gambling losses recovery statute because its games involve predominantly skill.

This week, I have written several articles on this case and its implications over at Forbes.  For more on the specifics and the merits of the parties' respective arguments, please see the following three sources:

1.  Marc Edelman, Will New Lawsuit Help to Clarity the Legal Status of Daily Fantasy Sports, Forbes, Feb. 19, 2013.

2.  Marc Edelman, Did Comcast Invest in Fan Duel Too Soon, Forbes, Feb. 20, 2013.

3.  Marc Edelman, A Short Treatise on Fantasy Sports and the Law: How America Regulates its New National Pastime, 3 Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law 1 (2011).

Presentation to Northwestern Sports Law Society

I will be at Northwestern University School of Law tomorrow (Thursday), presenting The Economics of the Infield Fly Rule to NU's Sports Law Society as part of Sports Law Society Week. The program runs from 12:10-1:20. Feel free to stop by if you are in Chicago.

Slate on Indian Mascots

Following up on our discussions of Indian mascots, this week's Slate Hang Up and Listen podcast includes a segment (starting at 34:10) on the controversy, featuring Dr. Ellen Staurowsky, a professor of sports management at Drexel University (Ellen also was kind enough to contribute an excellent chapter for my book on Duke lacrosse). It is a good conversation, touching on many of the issues of Indian self-concept and self-image that Alex mentions in his post.

Worth a listen.

A Call to Action

NCAA President Mark Emmert's leadership, and lack of accountability, surrounding his organization's investigation into the University of Miami was an embarrasment to those of us in higher education.  Thankfully, the good folks at The Huffington Post have provided me an outlet to rant.

The result is the following piece, titled "A Call to Action" where I advocate that it's time for Emmert to go; and since he's declared he won't resign, the NCAA Executive Committee needs to take action.  Feel free to lobby the members, who are listed here.

More on the significance of defining sport

The surprising and controversial announcement that wrestling is being dropped from the core Olympic programme effective with the 2020 Summer Games made me think that we may have found a reason why it matters whether something is a sport or not: Whether something is a sport (as opposed to a game or a competition) should be a tiebreaking factor when choosing between two events. In other words, when the IOC is deciding between wrestling and, say, synchronized ballroom dancing, the former wins out because it is a sport and the other is not.

Title Town?

Click photo to supersize.

In the hallway of the football offices at Floren Varsity House are team photos of all 17 of Dartmouth's Ivy League championship teams. That's the most in Ivy history – and you'll notice there's room for more ;-)

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The Princeton football blog talked with coach Bob Surace about star tailback Chuck Dibilio, who missed last year with a stroke after running for 1,068

Reuni Mengharu Biru Dalam Sepakbola

Semua pandangan mata hanya tertuju pada satu sosok saat Real Madrid menjamu Manchester United pada Leg 1 Perdelapan Final Liga Champions 2012 - 2013.
Bukan ke sosok Jose Mourinho, figur pelatih hebat yang santer diberitakan bersahabat dengan Sir Alex Ferguson dan menjadi salahsatu kandidat kuat penerus Fergie.
Bukan pula ke sosok David De Gea, kiper muda brilian yang digadang-gadang sebagai penerus Iker Casillas.
Semuanya menatap penuh pada sosok Cristiano Ronaldo.
Yah...sejak hengkang dari MU pada 2009, CR7 tidak pernah sekalipun bertemu dengam klub yang membesarkannya itu dalam sebuah laga resmi.
Maka sangat wajar jika pemberitaan tentang reuni CR7 dengan MU menjadi bumbu laga kedua team yang memang layak ditonton.
Bagaimana penampilan CR7 melawan eks klub yang diakuinya memilik tempat spesial di hati itu?
Apa yang akan dilakukannya untuk melewati Patrice Evra dan Rio Ferdinand yang sudah sangat mengenalnya dalam beratus-ratus sesi latihan di MU?
Seperti apa reaksi CR7 bila ia mencetak gol ke MU?

Dan momen itu pun tiba saat di pertengahan babak pertama CR7 mencetak gol untuk menyamakan kedudukan menjadi 1-1 (MU unggul terlebih dahulu lewat gol Danny Welbeck).
Penonton bersorak tetapi tidak ada perayaan berlebihan dari CR7.
Dia hanya berlari kecil sambil menolak secara halus pelukan selamat dari rekan-rekannya yang akan merayakan gol. So dramatic.
Momen dramatis selama 90 menit dimalam itu akhirnya diakhiri dengan pemandangan CR7 berbincang , akrab dengan "ayahnya" Sir Fergie sambil menyusuri jalan keluar lapangan.
Demikianlah, sepakbola kerap melahirkan drama-drama yang mengharu biru khususnya bila berbicara mengenai reuni pesepakbola dengan klub yang melekat di hatinya.

Publik tentu tidak akan pernah melupakan bagaimana Batistuta yang selama 9 tahun berkostum Fiorentina (1991 - 2000) dan mendapatkan perhargaan berupa julukan Batigol dan patung kebesaran harus memasukkan bola ke gawang klub tercintanya itu saat AS Roma, klub yang mengantarkan impiannya meraih scudetto, berhadapan dengan Fiorentina.
Tidak ada perayaan saat Batistuta menghujam gawang Fiorentina dengan gol, momen yang selanjutnya terjadi justru berupa pemandangan Batistuta menangis setelah gol itu !!
Sungguh menguras emosi melihat momen mengharu biru tersebut.

Lalu perhatikan juga saat Andriy Shevchenko kembali dari Chelsea sebagai pemain pinjaman pada musim 2008 -2009, meski tidak setajam sebelumnya, penghormatan tetap diberikan Milanisti bagi salahsatu penyerang terbaik dalam sejarah Milan itu.

Reuni pesepakbola dengan bekas klubnya tidak selalu memunculkan pemandangan "manis".
Lihatlah yang dialami Luis Figo dan Ronaldo Luiz Nazario Da Lima.
Hengkang dari Barcelona dan kemudian kembali merumput di Nou Camp dengan balutan kostum musuh abadi Real Madrid memicu perlakuan tidak pantas dari penonton
Yang paling diingat tentu bagaimana saat Luis Figo dalam sebuah eksekusi tendangan penjuru Madrid vs Barcelona mendapatkan lemparan kepala babi.
Unpredictable...tidak terduga...itulah yang terjadi dengan setiap reuni dalam sepakbola.

Musim 2012 -2013 masih menyisakan sejumlah partai yang berpotensi memunculkan drama mengharu biru.
Simak bagaimana perlakukan Interisti saat menyaksikan Balotelli dengan seragam Milan berusaha membobol gawang Samir Handanovic.
Lalu lihat pula upaya pembuktian Bojan Krkic, pemuda alumnus La Masia yang sempat menyandang predikat "the next Messi" saat Milan bersua Barcelona.
Nantikan sepak terjang Lukas Podolski saat Arsenal menghadapi Bayern Muenchen yang meminangnya usai Piala Dunia 2006 untuk hanya menjadi penonton aksi Klose dan Luca Toni dari bangku cadangan.

Sepakbola memang punya magis tersendiri sebagai olahraga paling populer di dunia.
Termasuk magis reuni pesepakbola dengan bekas klub nya.

More on the Redskins and Indian Mascots

The following is by my colleague Alex Pearl; Alex is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and writes and teaches on Indian Law.

As mentioned here, the National Museum of the American Indian held a symposium entitled “Racist Stereotypes and Cultural Appropriation in American Sports.”  In this post I am limiting the discussion to the Redskins specifically and sports mascots generally.  I have to plug the comprehensive blog, Native Appropriations, which examines representations of Indigenous Peoples in popular culture generally, including sports.

I’ve lost count of how many times the two entrenched sides of the Indian mascots debate have made their arguments.  The arguments of the respective camps can be summarized as follows.  Pro-Indian Mascots: We are honoring you and we have a connection to the team name, if you are offended then that is political correctness run amok.  Anti-Indian Mascots: We are not being honored and your connection to the team name is ridiculous.  In the interest of full disclosure, I’m an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma (i.e., I’m an Indian).

            At the Symposium, one participant had this to say, “[i]f Dan Snyder truly thinks the word ‘Redskins’ is anhonorific, I challenge him to attended the next meeting of the NationalCongress of American Indians and try using that word to people’s faces.”  Of course, Dan Snyder (nor anyone from the Pro-Indian Mascot camp) is coming to the Symposium or any other majority-Indian meeting. Which brings me to my point that the two sides are simply talking past each other.  They maintain mutually exclusive positions regarding a disagreement about a subjective value judgment. 

            I think there are opportunities for advancing the debate in an objective way.  There is research performed by Dr. Stephanie Fryberg and others that examine the effects of American Indian mascots on “aspects of the self-concept for American Indian students.” [Of Warrior Chiefs and Indian Princesses: The Psychological Consequences of American Indian Mascots, available at http://www.indianmascots.com/fryberg__web_psychological.pdf].  Here’s the abstract findings from her jointly authored paper:

When exposed to Chief Wahoo, Chief Illinwek, Pocahontas, or other common American Indian images, American Indian students generated positive associations (Study 1, high school) but reported depressed state self-esteem (Study 2, high school), and community worth (Study 3, high school), and fewer achievement-related possible selves (Study 4, college). We suggest that American Indian mascots are harmful because they remind American Indians of the limited ways others see them and, in this way, constrain how they can see themselves.

Dr. Fryberg was not at the Symposium held at the NMAI.   While I think the symposium does some good by focusing on the cultural gulf existing between Indian and non-Indian society, I think it would be more worthwhile for there to be greater emphasis on the type of research performed by Dr. Fryberg and others.  Moving the debate beyond “This mascot doesn’t honor me” to “This mascot causes empirically demonstrable psychological harm to Indian youth” is, in my view, preferred.  As an added bonus, studies like these may provide evidentiary support for the more recently filed action, Blackhorse v. Pro-Football, Inc., seeking to cancel the trademarks affiliated with the Washington Redskins

            As Sally Jenkins pointed out in her Washington Post article, many potentially influential people have raised this issue and suggested a name change.  However, the franchise, and accompanying branding and trademarks, is simply too valuable to change.  Unless there is a significant intervening economic event, like the Blackhorsecase prevailing, substantial fines by the NFL, or boycotts by fans and ticket holders the mascot is not going to change.  All this moral weight and scientific evidence will not trump the economic bottom line.

University of Virginia School of Law Sports Law Conference

The complete program for the March 8, 2013 sports law conference at the University of Virginia School of Law can be found here.  It is my understanding that CLE credits are pending.  Panels include the following:

- Ethical Issues for Sports Agents

- Legal and Practical Issues for Women in Sports and the Sports Law Industry

- Gambling and Corruption in Sports

- Penalties for Athletes

- Lockouts, Greed, and Collective Bargaining  

Peaceful

Monday's sunset from Moose Mountain

Mrs. BGA convinced me to run inside and get the camera as we were pulling into our driveway yesterday and this unretouched picture was the result.  The two most prominent peaks are Killington and Pico, and if you click to enlarge the photo, you can see a jet and its contrail.

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All credit to a regular reader who spotted something I missed. From Coaching

Super Cooper

Brandon Cooper is shown on Signing Day.

Check out the highlight video of Brandon Cooper, a 6-foot-2, 260-pound defensive lineman from South Grand Prairie HS in Texas here. He was tapped as the "under the radar" selection by Texas Prep Stars. (link)

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The New York Times features former Dartmouth nose tackle and Olympic shotputter Adam Nelson in a story under the headline, Hard to Call Anyone a

The Tragedy of Oscar Pistorius

The Oscar Pistorius situation is truly tragic for many reasons, including the loss of a life.  The fallout has included a number of sponsors including Nike terminating their relationship with Pistorius, pulling ads or otherwise removing Pistorius from their advertising campaigns. 

The ability of a sponsor to take these actions usually depends on the specific language of a morals clause.  Some clauses will allow termination or other adverse actions if the athlete has been charged with a crime, regardless of whether there is ultimately a conviction.  Other clauses might allow such actions only upon conviction of a crime.  


This situation highlights the basic principle for contract drafting generally and morals clauses in particular -- in order to impose the proper penalties for a breach, specific language is often necessary to fit specific situations.  Nike's contract with Pistorius apparently allows for termination in the event of a criminal charge or even just becoming involved in a public scandal.  In an unfortunate situation such as this one, this type of broadly-worded morals clause gives the sponsoring company significant power in determining its response.

Watch And Listen

With 215 days until the Dartmouth football opener at Butler but a very promising Big Green baseball team opening play a week from Friday in Minneapolis, it's a good time to think about the differences in the sport. And who better to explain those differences than George Carlin?

Great Lakes Sports and Entertainment Law Academy

Last year we blogged about the Great Lakes Sports and Entertainment Law Academy, a summer program  started last year by Peter Carfagna and Craig Nard and affiliated with Case Western and Cleveland-Marshall Law Schools for law students interested in sports and entertainment law. The academy has a great deal to offer and will have courses again this year from May 14 to May 31. For more information, click here.

FTK

Courtesy of The Daily Collegian



If you watched the Penn State-Iowa basketball game the other night you may have seen that one of the Nittany Lion players had the letters FTK shaved into the side of his head. The announcers never explained that the letters stand for the Penn State Dance Marathon slogan, For The Kids.



With the announcement late this afternoon that a record $12,374,034.46

Ferrum College Gets Exposure at Daytona

Ferrum College Adornes Campbell ARCA Car

When Only the Best Will Do

There is an old axiom that goes "In order to be the best, you must be able to beat the best" This idea suggests that the tougher the competition that you schedule, the more likely it is that this competition will make you a better team.
It seems to me that you have to look no further than Christopher Newport University to see this premise put into action. While I have repeatedly cited the unfairness of their public school status in a conference where every other school is private, and while I am also glad that they are leaving the conference, I must cite, with admiration, their tendency to schedule very strong teams within their region for their non-conference games. Over the last few years, CNU has made a habit of playing Wesley (DE), and Salisbury (MD). Theses two teams are consistently ranked in the top twenty in the nation,
From my perspective, this has helped the Captains, and gives them an edge when the conference schedule begins.  It prepares them for tough games, and while I am not advocating scheduling Mt. Union, I do think It would be the right thing to schedule Hampden-Sydney, Randolph Macon, or  maybe even a Mary Hardin Baylor. Why not Wesley, or Salisbury?  It would be an important step in getting Ferrum football to the next level.
Scheduling, is not the only element that helps a team be successful. A team must be able to draw recruits, strong recruits to be competitive. Ferrum has made phenomenal strides in their facility enhancements. but I wonder if there is another angle that needs to be explored? Athletics funding, is likely not at the top of the priorities list when it comes to developing a college budget. While Ferrum has shown an overwhelming commitment to its athletic programs, I believe that there needs to be a push toward developing involvement in the athletics funding through supporters of the college. Many schools, have athletic foundations that are comprised of alumni, private supporters, and commercial entities that can contribute to the athletic programs.
I am not sure how an athletic foundation would work as it relates to Ferrum, but there could be an effort to recruit members, and solicit donations. These donations may be distributed equally among all of the sports at Ferrum, or may be designated for a certain sport.
Just an idea.

Of Penn and Penn State

Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Blink and Outliers, lectured at Penn last week and touched on a, well, a touchy subject. From a story in the Daily Pennsylvanian:

He suggested that Penn students boycott football games as a way to protest what he called a “violent, stupid game” that serves only entertainment purposes.
I generally enjoy Gladwell's writing because he really does get you to think in

They Call Them Highlight Tapes

Trying to make an assessment of the quality of this year's still unofficial recruiting class for Dartmouth (or some other school) based on highlight videos? Good luck with that.

Watch this compilation of high school highlight clips that were posted last year and think about what you saw of these players as Dartmouth freshmen last fall. It's a reminder that 1) it can take time for kids to adjust

Book 'Em, Danno

Started up by former New York Giant Tiki Barber and a business partner, Thuzio is a web-based service that enables Joe Sixpack, Mrs. Sixpack, their kids or anyone else who has the money and the inclination to spend time with a hero. It might be to have lunch together, or to play pickup basketball. It might be to  attend a game together or tee it up on the links or just about anything.

Will the Washington "Redskins" Finally Get A New Name?

Dave Zirin wrote an article this week in The Nation entitled "Redskins: The Clock is Now Ticking on Changing the Name."  We have regularly debated the offensiveness of American Indian mascots at the Sports Law Blog, and once again, Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder has been called upon to change the team moniker of our nation capital's NFL club.  Zirin's article was inspired by a symposium held in Washington D.C. at the Smithsonian's Museum of American Indian History decrying the use of all American Indian mascots.

According to Zirin:  "It’s an awkward fact of life in Washington, DC, that we are home to both the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the Washington Redskins. One attempts to preserve the Native American cultures that weren’t eradicated by conquest; the other is both a symbol and result of the same eradication. These two worlds collided this past week when the museum hosted a day-long symposium about Native American sports nicknames. In a packed auditorium, panelists and audience members took the local team to task, calling their name 'ugly,' 'offensive' and 'a racist slur.' Former Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the only Native American senator in US history, said from the stage, 'If you want [your mascot] to be a savage—use your own picture.' Not one person either in the audience or the crowd defended the use of 'Redskin,' because, as one fan of the team said to me, 'it really is defending the indefensible.'"

While the NCAA has taken strong action against the use of offensive nicknames and imagery, will Dan Snyder, and other professional sports team owners (including the Braves, Indians, Chiefs, Blackhawks, etc.) finally heed the call for change and eliminate offensive and stereotyping monikers and mascots?

It's sports and there must be some law angle

(H/T: The Big Lead)

Athletic Big Man

A story from the Spotlight News about the three Shaker (N.Y.) HS players who will play FCS football next fall sheds light on the athleticism of incoming Dartmouth lineman David Morrison as well as his recruiting process. Regarding the 6-foot-4, 270-pound Big Green recruit:

Morrison, who is also a prominent player on Shaker’s Suburban Council North Division championship boys basketball team, said

Legal Commentary on Katie Couric Show

He's my interview on Katie Couric, from Monday. I was the legal commentator for her show, which featured an interview with Sue Paterno. It was great to meet Katie and to be part of this show.

The NBA's "One and Done Rule" is Patently Unfair

Last night, University of Kentucky star freshman Nerlens Noel injured his knee in his team's contest against the University of Florida.  While the extent of his injury has not been made public, and we all keep our fingers crossed (reports are torn ACL, out for the year), it reminds us of the patently unfair draft eligibility rules in the sport of basketball.  By virtually any account, Noel was one of the premier high school basketball players in the country, and should he have been inclined, an early lottery pick in the 2013 NBA draft.  Let's hope that opportunity is still within Noel's grasp.

As readers to this blog should know by now, the NBA and NBPA have agreed in their CBA that basketball players have to wait one year from the time their class graduates from high school to be eligible for the NBA draft.  The result is the infamous "One and Done" rule that forces players to attend college--or head overseas (Brandon Jennings)--before they can enter the NBA.  While I'll let others (and I mean you Michael McCann) make the age eligibility restraint of trade arguments, the courts have decided that current union members can impose limits on future members.  See Clarett v NFL among other cases.

Unfortunately, the NCAA does no favors to elite student athletes by capping the potential disability insurance policies that these players can obtain.  According to the NCAA's "Exceptional Student-Athlete Disability Insurance" (ESDI) guidelines, the cap on coverage in the sport of basketball is $5 million dollars for permanent disability insurance.  There are no provisions of loss of value insurance policies that would address an injury that lowers a players draft slot selection but doesn't make them permanently injured.  An 2013 NBA lottery pick will make multiples of that in their first guaranteed contract.  While we can hope Noel's injury is both minor and not a barrier to his NBA potential--and its financial implications--the NCAA, the NBA, and NBPA have not helped him in any way.

A year and a half ago, I wrote a law review article for the Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law entitled "Transitioning to the NBA: Advocating on Behalf of Student-Athletes for NBA & NCAA Rule Changes."  A copy of this article can be found here.  How many more times do we have to lament the "bad luck" of NCAA student-athletes without making any changes?  Let's hope that Noel's lack of choices after high school do not derail either his NBA career or the abundant riches it would bring.

Here Today . . .

From a note in the Tulsa World about the Oklahoma defensive line coach being dismissed and Tulsa assistant Calvin Thibodeaux being mentioned as a possible replacement:

If Thibodeaux were to leave for Norman, he would be coaching with his fifth team in five years. In 2009, he was a graduate assistant with the Houston Cougars. In 2010, he coached junior-college linemen at Navarro (Texas) College.

New York Law School Sports Law Symposium next Friday, Feb 22

Looking forward to being part of what should an excellent symposium next Friday at New York Law School -- great work by Brett Hirsch and David Soskin and many others in putting this together. 

I will be moderating the bankruptcy panel and will be sure to encourage discussion on the role of bankruptcy law in the sale of the Sacramento Kings.

* * *

The New York Law School Sports Law Society and the Institute for Information Law and Policy

Presents:

The Fourth Annual Sports Law Symposium

Friday, February 22, 2013

185 West Broadway

W201 (Events Center)

Fee:      Please note that if you registered for the original date, postponed due to Hurricane Sandy you are automatically registered for the make-up event on February 22.  

                $45 for attorneys (includes CLE’s)

            $45 for attorneys and professionals not seeking CLE credits (No CLE credit)

$15 for outside students

Free for current NYLS students (with a valid school ID)

This CLE program has been approved for a maximum of three hours of CLE credit for both transitional and non-transitional attorneys. New York Law School offers tuition assistance for attorneys who may have difficulty attending CLE events due to cost considerations. Please visit:  http://www.nyls.edu/academics/cle/tuition_assistance to see if you qualify.  

Tentative PANELS                                                                                                                                                  

12:00 pm - Registration Opens

12:45 pm - Opening Remarks

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm - Bankruptcy Issues in Sports (1 CLE Credit - Professional Practice ("P.P.") ) 

2:15 pm - 3:15 pm - Analysis and Impact of the Concussion Litigation (1 CLE Credit - P.P.) 

3:30 pm - 4:30 pm - Negotiating Media Rights Acquisitions (1 CLE Credit - P.P.)

4:45 pm - 5:30 pm - Breaking Into the Sports Industry Q&A

5:30 pm - Networking Reception 

 PANELISTS *                                                                                                                                                         

Jodi Balsam, Associate Professor at NYLS; Former Counsel for Operations and Litigation at the NFL

Robert Boland, Professor of Sports Management & Sports Business at New York University 

Robert Erb '91, CEO at Schutt Sports; Adjunct Professor at New York Law School  

Frank Golding, YouTube Director, Head of Sports for North America at Google 

Frank Hawkins, Partner at Scalar Media Partners; Former SVP Business Affairs at the NFL 

Darren Heitner, Founder of the Sports Agent Blog; Partner at Wolfe Law; Contributor at Forbes Magazine; 

Jeannine Kenney, Associate Counsel at Hausfeld LLC; Plantiff’s Liason Counsel for NFL concussion litigation

J. Carlos Kuri, Vice President and General Counsel at New York Red Bulls  

Jeffrey Levitan '83, Partner at Proskauer Rose LLP

David Mayer, Principal Counsel at ESPN, Inc.

Michael McCann, Legal Analyst at SI & NBA TV; Professor & Director of Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at UNH Law;  

Matthew Pace, Partner at Arent Fox LLP

Irwin Raij, Partner and co-chair of the Sports Industry Team at Foley & Lardner LLP

Robert Raiola, CPA; Sports & Entertainment Group Manager at Fazio, Mannuzza, Roche, Tankel, LaPilusa, LLC

Frank Saviano, Associate at Proskauer Rose LLP

Alan Schwarz, Reporter at New York Times

David Soskin '08, Counsel at ESPN, Inc.; Adjunct Professor at New York Law School  

Meredith Wolff, Associate Staff Attorney at NHL Enterprises, L.P.

The Illusion of Amateurism Within College Athletics

"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." ~
Verbal Kint/Kaiser Soze, The Usual Suspects 

It is time to wake up.  For decades the NCAA has created the illusion that their sole purpose was to defend the concept of amateurism within higher education.  This trick has been sanctioned by none other than the Supreme Court when, in 1984, they recognized the NCAA as “the guardian of an important American tradition.…amateurism in intercollegiate athletics.”[1]  And, for far too long, the American public has accepted this deception; that those competing in college sports should remain amateurs, as defined by the NCAA, so as to delineate them from paid professional athletes.

The argument is stale, the facts don’t support reality, and the public is recognizing the absurdity of the NCAA’s position: they insatiably embrace commercialism in all facets of intercollegiate athletics except on a single issue—athlete compensation.  College athletics has evolved into an industry generating billions of dollars a year without paying the labor that produces the demand for this product.  Perhaps one of the reasons public outcry has been muted is that the students engaged in these sports are, predominantly, minorities whose access to college the public often labels “an opportunity.”  The popular argument, that scholarships offer free education to many athletes, is rebuffed by the systemic failure of schools and the NCAA to ensure that students competing in football and basketball graduate with their college degrees or even a valuable education.

To read the rest this article on The Huffington Postfollow this link.  Let me know what you think.....

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[1]NCAA v Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma