Hot Topics in Sports Law: What to Expect in 2017

The legal and business landscape for professional and amateur sports is a dynamic one, displaying a myriad of legal issues that may lead to changes in governance, business models and statutory law, and judicial doctrine.

This one-hour course, taught by Fordham Law School Professor Mark Conrad, will focus on several important issues: the ramifications of the Slants case currently awaiting a ruling by the Supreme Court on the registration of “disparaging” trademarks, the future of sports betting and daily fantasy sports, the continued push to “professionalize” college sports through antitrust litigation and labor law, and the continuing issues of concussions and sports. If time permits, the course may also discuss the role of arbitration and dispute resolution in the professional sports.

Learning Objectives: 

1. Understand the ramifications of the Slants case on Trademark law and the future of the Washington Redskins’ and Cleveland Indians’ trademarks
2. Identify the constitutional tug of war between the state of New Jersey and the Federal government in New Jersey’s attempts to legalize sports gambling
3. Update the attempts to make daily fantasy sports legal in various states, including New York
4. Recognize how freedom of expression differs between public and private universities
5. Outline the attempts to give student-athletes greater monetary compensation and the right to unionize
6. Summarize the approaches that certain leagues are taking with regard to concussion litigation and determine how such settlements can create precedents for college and high school programs