Sports Litigation Alert Current Issue

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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?...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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,...

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...