Search

INTRODUCTION 40 I. THE NCAA'S INVOCATION OF TITLE IX TO SHIELD ITSELF FROM 44 MEANINGFUL REFORM A. THE RISE OF THE NCAA'S LUCRATIVE "AMATEUR" SPORTS BUSINESS 44 MODEL B. THE [...], This Essay examines the moral and policy implications of the NCAA's use of Title IX to argue for legislative immunity from antitrust and employment law. Regardless of if there is merit to the NCAA's in-court assertions that Title IX prevents employment status, revenue sharing, and other reforms, the NCAA's requests to Congress for legislative protection and immunity requires a monumental degree of faith that an all-powerful NCAA would sincerely carry out its supposed commitment to gender equity. Yet this Essay finds that the NCAA has hardly earned the level of trust necessary to grant it that power. To the contrary, the NCAA has shown repeatedly that they cannot be trusted to follow through on this implicit promise in light of the NCAA and its' member schools' historical battles against Title IX and incessant use of loopholes, each of which highlight their bad faith in these discussions. While the NCAA's arguments regarding Title IX are compelling to many, history simply does not support trusting an above-the-law NCAA to actually work to ensure gender equality in college sports. As such, this Essay argues that it is at the utmost levels of bad faith for the NCAA to attempt to use Title IX as a shield when the NCAA and its stakeholders have been fighting Title IX's on-paper and inspirit application to college sports at every turn.

With the arrival of name, image, and likeness (NIL), the college sports labor market has distinctly taken on similar characteristics to the gig economy, with athletes able to earn extra compensation through external NIL-based independent contractor "gigs." But with this comparison comes comparable issues, and scholarship and litigation examining and challenging gig economy structures have identified several legal and ethical concerns both individual to each worker and more broadly affecting labor markets. Building off this literature, we conceptualize the NIL phenomenon within the gig economy space, exploring the legal and ethical concerns that have plagued companies like Uber and applying those same concerns to the brave new world of NIL-fueled college sports. We not only find similar issues in college sports but also find even deeper concerns based on new and existing challenges unique to the novel space of college sports, particularly given the increased proliferation of NIL collectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a brief history of the baseball antitrust exemption, focusing on previous attempts by litigators, judges, and scholars to limit or constrict the exemption's current near-absolute effect, and details the links between the baseball antitrust exemption and the in NCAA v. Alston.

This article provides a retrospective look at the Supreme Court's decision to review the NCAA v. Alston antitrust litigation by defining and analyzing a three-tiered circuit split that existed in the courts' application of antitrust law to NCAA amateurism regulations. Using mixed-methods citation network analysis review, this article shows wide disarray within the NCAA amateurism discrete citation network by analyzing the doctrinal differences in how three distinct jurisdictional silos applied antitrust law to four broad categories of NCAA rules. As such, this article argues that the Supreme Court was correct to grant certiorari to the Alston petitioners to resolve this circuit split and better define the precedential effect of the much-debated NCAA v. Board of Regents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a unanimous defeat at the Supreme Court in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) v. Alston and facing an impending start date for various state laws that would force action on athletes' ability to profit off their name, image, and likeness (NIL), the NCAA recently made the decision to simply allow states and member colleges and universities to promulgate NIL restrictions on their own. But while such a delegation helps the NCAA stave off relevant antitrust action against them, placing regulatory authority over college athlete endorsement and sponsorship deals in the hands of government actors like state legislators, governors, and public educational institutions brings constitutional analysis into play in a way that has not previously been seen in sports due to the wholly private natures of sports leagues and the NCAA. Along these lines, this Article applies First Amendment jurisprudence to three recurring NIL restrictions imposed by states and schools: (1) restrictions on athlete deals that conflict with institutional endorsement deals; (2) restrictions on athlete deals with vice industries like gambling and alcohol; and (3) broad restrictions on deals that conflict with undefined "institutional values." To do so, we apply several First Amendment doctrinal frameworks"those concerning commercial speech, student speech, public employee speech, and the overbreadth doctrineâ€"to provide a range of different means by which courts may interpret how the rights of college athletes are affected by NIL policies. In the end, we find that the nature of these restrictions as overbroad prior restraints of free speech creates significant doubt as to the constitutionality of many of these restrictions under the First Amendment. We conclude that such restrictions in no uncertain form "present a 'realistic danger' [that these actors] could significantly compromise recognized First Amendment protections," including the advanced protections for political speech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals interpretation of the voluntary undertaking doctrine has changed return-to-play policies in sports. Topics covered include its decisions in Mayall v. USA Water Polo and Dent v. National Football League, how the application of the voluntary undertaking doctrine has shifted following the decisions, and the new interpretation of negligence liability for over-seeing athletic organizations shared by the two cases.

The NCAA is at a crossroads with student-athlete compensation. Over the past few decades, the NCAA and its partners have faced lawsuits from several different angles with essentially one consistent argument: Studentathletes deserve to be compensated for what they provide to colleges and universities. In two such lawsuits--Dawson v. NCAA and Livers v. NCAA--the plaintiffs have attempted a new strategy: arguing that revenue sport studentathletes are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). These cases have gained some traction, and the distinctive protections granted to employees under the FLSA present unique challenges worth exploring. This Article analyzes the potential results of a plaintiff victory in a FLSA case on the landscape of collegiate sports. To that end, this Article explores the unique benefits and challenges the FLSA presents, and how intercollegiate sports would be shifted by a plaintiff victory on this front. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on challenges of pitcher injuries caused by careless management and overuse in the U.S. Topics discussed include review of medical literature surrounding overworking young pitchers, and potential dangers of overuse for amateur athletes; current state of pitch count regulations within amateur baseball at the Little League, High School, and Collegiate levels; and protecting amateur baseball pitchers from negligent and reckless decisions by their coaches.

The article discusses the impact of the Clarett case to the age rule bargaining in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Topics include the Clarett v. NFL which deals with the National Football League (NFL) age rule, discussions between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) on the one-and-done rule, and the Second Circuit's opinion in the Clarett case.

We find it odd and disconcerting that organizations such as the appellees, which undertake to enhance the quality and safety of high school football games, disclaim that they do so to provide a service to the athletes who participate in the games. Moreover, we find similarly incongruous the argument that organizations whose rules govern the contest and whose discussions determine the type of athletic equipment that the athletes are provided do not owe those athletes a duty of reasonable care in their activities. The fact that these organizations purport to act gratuitously and for noble purposes does not, ipso facto, absolve them of a legal duty of care toward the athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the potential of civil liability posed by the post-game handshake lines for constituents involved such as sports players, coaches, and team personnel. Topics discussed include prevention of pushback against abolishing the sportsmanship tradition; and elimination of violence associated with post-game sporting events.

The article focuses on major court storming incidents in college basketball resulting in physical altercations or injuries. It mentions actions have been taken against court storming by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCA) and its conferences and discuss what the legal standard would be if a fan were to injure someone while rushing the court. It also mentions way to combat court storming and ban by NCAA on court storming during its Championships.

The article evaluates the dangers of courtside cameramen to players; reports the National Basketball Association (NBA) laws that allows cameramen on sport fields; discusses cameramen-related injuries' affect the working conditions of the players.

The article focuses on cases that considers the liability of a stadium owner for injuries sustained from a mascot's activity . Topics discussed include the baseball's limited duty rule and the risk doctrine, mascot antics at baseball games and the Missouri Supreme Court's decision in case Coomer v. Kansas City Royals Baseball Corp., in which the plaintiff John Coomer filed suit against the Royals for his eye injury when the Royals' mascot, Sluggerrr hit Coomer with hot dog toss.