Hot Topics in Sports Law: What to Expect in 2018

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, statutory law, and judicial doctrine.

This one-hour course, presented by Fordham University professor Mark Conrad, will focus on several important issues: the Supreme Court’s consideration of New Jersey’s constitutional challenge to the federal ban on sports gambling (currently awaiting a decision), the doping scandals and the future of the Russian Olympic participation; the FIFA verdict and the future of governance in International Sports; an update on the investigation bribery charges against NCAA basketball coaches; the continued push to “professionalize” college sports through antitrust litigation; the NHL concussion litigation, and the victory of the “Slants” (and by extension, the Washington Redskins) to register trademarks that can be “disparaging.”

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss the ramifications of the upcoming ruling in Christie on the future of legalized sports gambling
2. Identify the effect of the Russian doping ban on PED regulation on international sports federations
3. Examine the future of international sports governance in the wake of the successful prosecution of former FIFA officials in the United States and an update on the charges filed against NCAA college basketball coaches  
4. Explore trends in the professionalization of college sports and updates on the Jenkins case 
5. Review updates on the continuing concussion litigation filed by former NHL players
6. Analyze the Supreme Court ruling in the Slants case and how the end of Lanham Act limitations on “disparaging” trademarks help the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians