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This study examines the remaining options for sport managers to balance the interests of college athletes and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in regulating college athlete name, image, and likeness (NIL). The paper is divided into six substantive sections. The first section, "Background: The NCAA's Defense of NIL Restrictions," provides a brief history of the NCAA's legal defense to challenges against its NIL regulations. The second section, "U.S. Congress Is Unlikely to Regulate College Athletes' NIL Rights," addresses proposed federal legislation and Congress' willingness to regulate the use of NIL by college athletes. The third section, "The Impact of O'Bannon and Alston on NCAA's NIL Restraints," examines controlling case law, specifically O'Bannon v. NCAA and NCAA v. Alston, and how current antitrust law precedent shapes the scope by which the NCAA can regulate college athletes' NIL. The fourth section, "State Laws Regulating the NIL Marketplace," addresses state legislation regulating college athlete NIL use. The fifth section, "The Applicability of Labor Law to Regulating College Athletes' NIL," discusses the current college athlete NIL marketplace and analyzes whether labor law presents an optimal way forward for the NCAA to regulate NIL post-Alston. The sixth section, "College Athletes' Employee Status as a Pathway to Redefine the NCAA's Amateurism," concludes by examining the law's role in regulating NIL and discussing stakeholder implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the use and content of sports scandal investigation reports. Many such reports are self-described as "independent." This paper serves to elucidate some of the issues around "independence" and limitations of these investigations. The analysis is discussed in connection to the unique context of sport governance structures and policy, along with the related issues of autonomy, transparency, and accountability. A content analysis method was employed to analyze a purposive sample of post-scandal reports from the past decade pertaining to international professional sport. The results revealed the efforts to portray independence in the reports and identified potential threats to independence. The analysis and corresponding discussion provide recommendations for future report procedure, interpretation, evaluation, and legal policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following gossip website TMZ's September 8, 2014, release of a video showing Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice striking his then fiancée unconscious in a New Jersey casino elevator, the NFL prominently declared "No More" to domestic violence. In a highly publicized Super Bowl commercial, the NFL announced the launch of a new corporate social responsibility program, No More, which suggested that the NFL would no longer tolerate within its ranks those who commit domestic violence. The No More program preceded a newer, stricter punishment system for players accused of committing domestic violence: a six-game suspension for first-time offenders, followed by a one-year expulsion for second-time offenders, who also would require reinstatement by the Commissioner to play again. Although the NFL has talked tough on domestic violence, this Article's investigation and resulting study yield little support for the finding that the NFL has truly sought to turn over a new leaf. Instead, the NFL has created a system where players rarely receive a six-game suspension and teams carry the burden of punishing player misconduct. The purpose of this study is to compare the league's response to players' arrests for domestic violence against the league's domestic violence policy and activism. As opposed to standing up and saying No More, the league has latched on to nonviolent crimes as a justification for punishment, has not adhered to its suspension guidelines, and has deferred to teams the responsibility for handling these incidences. Although the NFL has quite prominently engaged in activism, condemning the evil acts of those who commit domestic violence, it has taken few actions to eliminate domestic abusers from its player ranks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]