1. Course Description and Purpose
This survey course examines legal dimensions of professional sport. The course focuses on the governance and regulation of professional sports, including contract law, intellectual property rights and ambush marketing, name, image & likeness, anti-trust law, criminal law, gender equity, doping, and human rights.
The world of professional sports is often steeped in controversy. It is a world where financial considerations, entertainment value, and human aspiration intersect, turning “games” into “sports”. At the same time, in a world increasingly fragmented by issues of politics, race, sex, economics, ethics and geography, sports can often be a unifier where individuals find community and common ground.
This is an issues-oriented course. You will explore some of the more significant legal policies, provisions, court decisions, and governance practices that apply to professional sports. Our classes will be divided roughly into three parts. The first part will be a short “News of the Week’ segment led by the instructor which reviews the law related news relevant to the world of professional sports from that week. Though the instructor will take on the preparation of those materials, everyone will be encouraged to identify relevant news stories and share them with the class. The second part will be talk by the instructor on the week’s topic and integrating materials from various sources. The third part will be a student led seminar on a topic that may integrate guests, use multi-media materials etc. Parts one and two will take up roughly half the class together with Part three occupying the rest of the time. Guests (usually via Zoom) are sometimes incorporated into the second part of the class.
2. WHAT WE CAN HOPE TO ACHIEVE TOGETHER
It is impossible in a course of this kind to cover all the myriad issues that confront a professional sports lawyer. The most we can hope for is that by the time you have completed the course you will have a realistic, non-rose-colored understanding of some of the more important principles, policies, questions, and conundrums that inform the laws, regulations and arrangements relating to professional sports. Prevailing controversies will be welcomed into the classroom, appreciated as harbingers of relevance worthy of deeper exploration.
3. LEARNING OUTCOMES
After taking this course you will not be magically transformed into seasoned professional sports lawyer. However, you should be able to identify, understand and explore in context the legal issues of professional sports as well as the societal tensions and compromises that inevitably arise. To practice effectively in the area, you will need be able to analyze critically and through an ethical lens the rights and responsibilities of all the legal actors in the drama of professional sports, including corporate interests, broadcasters, owners, government, agents, and players.
- Teacher: Jonathan Festinger, Q.C.