Sports & Entertainment

Mintz Member and Co-chair of the firm’s Sports & Entertainment Practice Tyrone Thomas participated in a podcast discussion hosted by the Sports Lawyers Association on the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston.

Today, there are new opportunities to own a bit of sports history. It is now possible to even own a digital collectible of your favorite athlete making a play during a game.  NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are being used to provide digital provenance that affords unique ownership of sports most memorable moments. 

As the NFL and other sports leagues contemplate how to resume operations in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, the availability of data has taken heightened importance as teams conduct activities such as free agency. The Internet of Things (IoT) already has overtaken the sports world, where most professional teams, and many other athletes, rely on wearables and other wireless devices to track athletes’ movements, training, and game day performance.

Since 1949, a green jacket has been awarded to the winner of the Masters Tournament, one of golf’s four major championships.

On December 12, 2019, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice filed an antitrust case and simultaneous settlement against the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC).  The complaint alleged that NACAC established and enforced illegal restraints on the ways that colleges compete in the recruiting of students.

As any football fan knows, Carrie Underwood has performed the introductory song for Sunday Night Football since 2013. “Waitin’ All Day For Sunday Night” was the introductory song for the 2013 and 2014 seasons, and “Oh Sunday Night” was the song performed in 2015, 2016, and 2017. On September 6, 2018, Sunday Night Football opened with Ms. Underwood singing a new introductory song entitled “Game On." Well, this “Game” is now the subject of a copyright infringement suit in Federal District Court in New York.

In the aftermath of concerns on student-athlete safety following the death of a Maryland football player during conditioning drills last year, new legislation takes aim by providing protections on the right of college athletes to report concerns outside of the athletic department.

Recently, the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) accepted comments on the future of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“UAS”), those aircraft under 55 pounds that we commonly refer to as “drones.” The FAA has authorized UAS operations for several years, but many industries have been dissatisfied with the level of allowable use and have pressed the agency to further clarify the circumstances under which operations are allowed. Sports leagues have joined this group.

This article considers the use of P-1 athlete visas as a viable option for international esports competitors.

Tyrone Thomas discusses the changing landscape in sports with the emergence of e-sports, athlete activism, and more and the associated compliance issues organizations are likely to face in the coming years.

Earlier this week, a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in the case of Gold Medal LLC v. USA Track & Field.  The decision, on appeal from the District Court for the District of Oregon, rejected allegations that USA Track & Field (USATF) and the United States Olympics Committee (USOC) engaged in an anticompetitive conspiracy in violation of antitrust law by imposing certain advertising restrictions during Olympic Trials. 

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision authorizing the states to decide whether sports betting should be legal within their borders.

You don’t think of sports website FanGraphs as a go-to source for legal analysis?

Tyrone Thomas was quoted in the Law360 article entitled, NCAA Transfer Rule Ripe For Reform Despite Court Success, in which he assessed the opportunity for college athletics to create a clearer standard for its transfer rules and avoid the possibility of court intervention.

In July 2016, four players on the Minnesota Lynx WNBA team wore black shirts in support of the Black Lives Matter social justice movement. The WNBA fined the players, but later rescinded the fines.

Two incredible things happened in 1992 for the NFL football team Washington Redskins. It won the Super Bowl and applied to register a trademark Washington Redskins. It has not been so lucky ever since. It has not won another Super Bowl and has not registered that mark since 1992.

More than ever before, biometric data, a term often used broadly to refer to metrics related to human characteristics, is being collected at a faster pace.

The vetting and hiring of a new coach is one of the most critical responsibilities athletic directors face. Athletic directors work to identify coaching candidates that will give the university’s teams an opportunity to win games.

A celebrity should maximize the value of their brand by strategically monetizing every aspect of it.  For example, one who becomes famous through the recording industry would consider a career in front of and behind a television camera, through endorsement opportunities that are equity-based, along with employment and other business ventures.