The State of Sports Law

University of Virginia School of Law

Friday, March 16, 2012

Caplin Pavilion

8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Overview

The University of Virginia School of Law is pleased to present a symposium on the current state of sports law, hosted by the Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal and the Virginia Sports Law Society.

The keynote speaker will be DeMaurice Smith ('89), the Executive Director of the NFL Players' Association.  In 2011, Mr. Smith successfully led the players of the NFL through a 134-day lockout by the National Football League, culminating in a landmark 10-year Collective Bargaining Agreement.

This event is free and open to the public

Symposium Schedule

Morning Schedule

8:00 A.M. – 8:45 A.M.       Check-in and continental breakfast

8:45 A.M. – 9:00 A.M.       Opening Remarks

9:00 A.M. – 10:20 A.M.      Panel 1: NCAA Conference Realignment

10:20 A.M. – 10:30 A.M.    Break

10:30 A.M. – 11:50 A.M.    Panel 2: Legal Implications of Financial Distress in Professional Sports

11:50 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.     Lunch Break (Due to space constraints, the luncheon will be limited to Moderators, Panelists, and select participants)

Afternoon Schedule

1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M.      Keynote Address – DeMaurice Smith

2:00 P.M. – 2:10 P.M.      Break

2:10 P.M. – 3:30 P.M.      Panel 3: Amateurism and the Student Athlete

3:30 P.M. – 3:40 P.M.      Break

3:40 P.M. – 5:00 P.M.      Panel 4: Sports Law Analytics

Panel Overviews

Panel 1: NCAA Conference Realignment

Time: 9:00 A.M. – 10:20 A.M.

As NCAA conferences realign in pursuit of the funding bonanza available from television contracts, the potential gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" continues to grow.  This panel discusses the competitive impact that this discrepancy may have on those colleges and universities that are not invited to join the "super conferences."  This panel explores the antitrust concerns that may arise and examines the role of Congress and the NCAA in regulating the conferences.

Panelists: 

·      Christian Dennie, Barlow Garsek & Simon 

·   Mark Levinstein ('79, B.A.), Williams & Connolly

·      Michael McCann ('02), Professor and Director of the Sports Law Institute, Vermont Law School

·      Ed Pasque, Associate Commissioner and Legal Counsel, Atlantic 10 Conference

·      Moderated by J. Gordon Hylton ('77), Professor of Law, Marquette University Law School, Visiting Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law

Panel 2: Legal Implications of Financial Distress in Professional Sports 

Time: 10:30 A.M. – 11:50 A.M.

As professional sports teams encounter financial hardship, conflicts in control arise. This panel explores the level of oversight bankruptcy courts have over professional teams in the midst of financial distress and how that oversight may conflict with the power of commissioners to regulate the sport. Financial distress also may lead the team to seek relocation. This panel examines the use of antitrust laws to secure the ability to relocate a franchise over league objection and the potential for expansion in the major sports leagues.

Panelists: 

·      Mark Levinstein ('79, B.A.), Williams & Connolly

·      Michael McCann ('02), Professor and Director of the Sports Law Institute, Vermont Law School

·      Tom Ostertag ('81), Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Major League Baseball

·      Moderated by J. Gordon Hylton ('77), Professor of Law, Marquette University Law School, Visiting Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law

Keynote Address: DeMaurice Smith

Time: 1:00 P.M. - 2:00 P.M.

DeMaurice Smith ('89), Executive Director of the National Football League Players Association, will offer his insider's view of the NFL's 2011 lockout.  He will focus on the labor and legal issues surrounding the negotiation of the new ten-year Collective Bargaining Agreement with the League.

Panel 3: Amateurism and the Student Athlete

Time: 2:10 P.M. – 3:30 P.M.

Student athletes generate billions of dollars in revenues for their colleges and universities yet they share minimally in the financial spoils.  Is this a wrong to be righted and if so, how?  This panel debates the role of the student athlete as an amateur or an employee and the ramifications of the designation.  This panel explores whether the student athlete should be compensated and whether an education is adequate consideration for the revenue he or she helps to generate.  Also, this panel examines who controls the revenue stream and what role the student athlete should have in that determination.

Panelists: 

·      Christian Dennie, Barlow Garsek & Simon

·      Roscoe Howard ('77), Andrews Kurth and Member of the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions

·      J. Gordon Hylton ('77), Professor of Law, Marquette University Law School, Visiting Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law

·      Alan Milstein, Sherman Silverstein

·      Rob Slavis, Assistant Athletic Director, University of Virginia

·      Moderated by Michael McCann ('02), Professor and Director of the Sports Law Institute, Vermont Law School

Panel 4: Sports Law Analytics

 Time: 3:40 P.M. – 5:00 P.M.

As popularized in Michael Lewis’s best-selling book Moneyball and a 2011 Hollywood movie of the same name, the sports industry has firmly embraced the use of statistics, economics, and mathematics (collectively “analytics”) in various decision-making processes.  Such analytics have similarly been adopted in the sports law field.  This panel discusses how analytics are used in areas such as talent identification, contract negotiation, gambling corruption prevention, and antitrust litigation.

Panelists: 

·      Robert Forbes ('07), Proskauer 

·      Ryan Rodenberg, Professor, Florida State University

·      Kelly Wilson, Assistant Counsel, Under Armour

        ·      Moderated by Thomas Nachbar, Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law