Sports Litigation Alert Current Issue
Here’s the latest issue of Sports Litigation Alert, the nation’s only subscription-based periodical reporting on the intersection of sports and the law. We also publish 11 other sports law periodicals. Visit hackneypublications.com to learn more.

Case Summaries
NFL Narrowly Defeats Collusion Claims Over Guaranteed Compensation
By Christopher R. Deubert, Senior Writer It is the general understanding among serious sports fans that NFL player contracts are less guaranteed, i.e., more permissive of unilateral termination by the player’s club, than player contracts in MLB, the NBA, or the...
Court: Institutional Negligence Claim Can Proceed Against Chicago Blackhawks
A Cook County (Ill.) Circuit Court judge has denied the Chicago Blackhawks’ motion for a summary judgment in a case in which the team was sued by a former player, “John Doe,” who claimed the team failed to act when officials were allegedly informed that one of the...
Court Dismisses, in Part, Women’s Soccer Coach’s Title IX & First Amendment Claims Against Emporia State University and Its AD
A federal judge in the District of Kansas has dismissed, in part, the Title IX lawsuit brought by the former women’s soccer coach at Emporia State University (ESU), Bryan Sailer. Sailor alleged that ESU violated Title IX when it retaliated against him by terminating...
Twins’ Doctor Must Face Player Malpractice Claim Due To Florida Workers’ Comp Exception
By Christopher R. Deubert, Senior Writer Ryan Costello was a promising young baseball player. After being drafted in the 31st round of the 2017 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft by the Seattle Mariners, and later traded to the Minnesota Twins, he worked his way...
Forms Over Utilitarian Function: Horse Ranch Loses Copyright Case (But Not the Farm) Over Licensed Legal Forms
By Robert E. Freeman, with Tara K. Wahl, Meredith A. Lipson and Caroline E. Rimmer An Oregon district court recently saddled a Florida horse ranch with liability for copyright infringement after it repeatedly posted copyright-protected equine transaction legal forms...
Articles
Now Entering the Title IX Athletics Arena: The U.S. Department of Energy Seeks to Rescind Long Standing Title IX Athletics Regulation
By Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D., Senior Contributor and Professor, Sports Media, Ithaca College staurows@ithaca.edu As the effects of the cuts to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) take hold, reliance on interagency efforts to...
North Carolina Courts Allow High School Athletes to Utilize Their NIL Rights
By Robert J. Romano, JD, LLM, St. John’s University, Senior Writer and Dr. Denise Kamyuka, University of Michigan – Dearborn College athletics in the United States underwent a substantial change in July of 2021 after individual states began enacting laws to permit...
Attorneys Offer Insights Into the Sports Memorabilia Industry
By Holt Hackney Memorabilia has been a part of the America sports culture for more than 100 years. But like the games themselves, the memorabilia industry has undergone tremendous change. Fueled by the literal growth in sports fans and the money they spend, new...
The Shifting Landscape Involving Immigration Issues in the Sports Industry
What follows is an exclusive interview with Patricia Gannon, Partner, Chair of the Immigration & Naturalization Group at Greenspoon Marder, about pressing immigration issues in the sports industry. Question: How did you get your start at the intersection of...
Epic Games Faces Lawsuit Alleging Deceptive Countdown Timers in Fortnite’s Item Shop
By Jeffrey Levine, JD, PhD – Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Sport Business Esport Business Program Lead, Drexel University A recent class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California brings renewed legal scrutiny...
Please Don’t Celebrate Like That! The Problem with Crowd Celebrations
By Gil Fried, Professor, University of West Florida In the span of one week, we had two major sport victories in late May and early June. We also had multiple deaths associated with celebrations associated with each victory. When will the madness end?...
Hacking Allegations, Alleged ID Theft, and the 24-Count Federal Indictment Pending Against Former NFL and Collegiate Football Coach
By Clare Maness, JD One thing about federal crime and federal criminal defense is the variety. Federal crime is often complex, sometimes “sprawling,” and seldom “cookie cutter.” It is frequently “legally dense.” And Matt Weiss’s case is no exception. This former...
The CBA-Defying Plot to Keep Caleb Williams Out of Chicago in the 2024 NFL Draft
By Joseph Michael Ricco IV A book set to be published in September, American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback, reveals that former University of Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams and his father, Carl Williams, plotted ways to avoid being selected by...
The Death of College Athletics: House v. NCAA
By David J. Kaufman, Thompson Coburn LLP Since its founding in 1906, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, now known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA has been under an almost continuous attack for its illegal collusion...
Women Athletes File Notices of Appeal of House Settlement Payouts on Title IX Grounds
By Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D., Senior Writer and Professor, Sports Media, Ithaca College, staurows@ithaca.edu Within days of the House Settlement receiving final approval from U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken on June 6, 2025, two groups of current and former...
Analyzing House – What It All Means
By Sabria McElroy, Partner, Boies Schiller Flexner On June 6, 2025, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken granted final approval to one of the most significant antitrust settlements in sports history in House v. NCAA. The settlement resolves a trio of antitrust cases,...
NIL Alert: $2.8 Billion Athlete Revenue Settlement Approved
By Adam R. Bialek and Dara S. Elpren* On June 6, 2025, U.S. Northern District of California Judge Claudia Wilken approved the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA’s) $2.8 billion athlete revenue settlement (Settlement) in the consolidated case, In re...
News Briefs
Sports Lawyer Jill Kelley joins Hogan Lovells in New York
Hogan Lovells has announced that Jill Kelley has joined the firm's Corporate & Finance practice as a partner in the New York office. Kelley joins from the New York Jets, where she was General Counsel and Vice President of Legal Affairs. “From her time at the Jets,...
Attorney Kayla Williams Joins SLE Podcast to Discuss Her Legal Work in Collegiate Athletics
Hackney Publications has announced that Kayla Williams of Lightfoot, Franklin & White (https://www.lightfootlaw.com), who offers expertise in the area of collegiate athletics and NIL, is the latest guest on the Sports Law Expert Podcast. The segment can be heard...