Today's Congressional hearing on NCAA athlete name, image and likeness rights signals that many coaches and higher education leaders could benefit from a sport law class.
For starters, outside entities compensating NCAA athletes for NIL rights doesn't invoke or violate Title IX.
Arguing that corporations may choose to endorse NCAA athletes over partnering with the entire athletic department is a Chicken Little argument. Athletic departments with strong brands and social media followings will not lose money to the few athletes who can secure endorsements.
Olympic sports will continue to be cut NOT because college athletes can enter into NIL deals, but because athletic departments have grossly mismanaged budgets. Spending on coaches' salaries, facilities and travel are to blame. Not NCAA athletes entering into legal endorsements.
The NCAA generates over $1B in revenue/year. In this tough economy all of its employees will be furloughed for 3 weeks. However, here's what the NCAA spent on legal fees in part to defend its amateurism standard & prevent payment to NCAA athletes:
2019: $54M
2018: $46M
2017: $36M
To put these legal fees into perspective, the NCAA's 2018 Form 990 says it spent $77.7 million on salaries. If I'm a furloughed employee and know that $54 million was spent on legal fees defending amateurism, I'm asking if it's time to reimagine our mission.
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Ten years. Ten years ago today I bet on myself and started Ruling Sports. I wanted to work in sports and tell stories about sports. I knew a job wasn’t going to come knocking on my door, so I created one myself. I can truly say I have my dream career. 1/
Over the last ten years I’ve wrote close to 400 articles for Forbes, The Huffington Post, CNBC, The Washington Post and The Athletic. I’ve been credentialed for the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, Final Four, spent four years covering the Miami Heat and more. 2/
In 2013 I decided I wanted to be a full-time professor. The issue was I hadn’t published or taught. People said I wouldn’t get a job. One person did—@leighsteinberg—who helped me prep for my interview at Miami. I asked how I could thank him. He said, “Go get the job.” I did. 3/
As college football players across the U.S. have suddenly banded together in the #WeWantToPlay movement, those calling for widespread unionization of the group must understand that the law governing unionization in the U.S. makes that unlikely. 1/
The National Labor Relations Act was passed in 1935 to provide workers returning to employment after the Great Depression protections. It provides U.S. employees of private employers the right to unionize. Key words: 1. Private employer and 2. employees. 2/
In 2014, Northwestern football players on scholarship filed a petition to unionize. The National Labor Relations Board used the Right to Control test to deem them employees who could vote to unionize. It is notable that this part of the NLRB’s ruling was never overturned. 3/