Category:Sports
Sports Gambling in the Post-Murphy Landscape
Since the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Murphy v. NCAA, which struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the sports betting industry has expanded at an extraordinary rate. Sports wagering is now legal in 38 states and Washington, D.C. In 2024, licensed sportsbooks handled nearly $150 billion in bets and generated more than $14.2 billion in operator revenue. State and local governments collected roughly $2.9 billion in taxes, and the federal government received over $375 million through the federal excise tax. This expansion, however, has also produced a complicated and evolving set of regulatory and compliance challenges.
FTC Lawsuit Forces Changes to Ticketmaster
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken action against Ticketmaster and its parent company, LiveNation, for engaging in deceptive and unfair ticketing practices. These practices inflated ticket prices and enabled brokers to use bots to hoard tickets and mislead consumers through hidden fees. The FTC brought suit against Ticketmaster and it has resulted in changes including banning multiple accounts, shutting down a platform that helps brokers purchase multiple tickets at a time, and increasing pricing transparency.
Circumventing the Salary Cap: The Regulatory Gaps within the NBA
In the National Basketball Association (NBA), competition is fierce and success is often decided by razor-thin margins. NBA franchises are consistently looking for ways to gain a competitive edge, prioritizing player acquisitions to increase ticket sales, sponsorships, and franchise value to ultimately improve their chances of winning a championship. Most teams aim to build their roster through the annual NBA draft or the annual NBA free agency period. However, with growing competitive pressure, the line between strategic edge and rule circumvention becomes increasingly blurred. In September 2025, allegations surfaced that the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented the NBA salary cap when reporter Pablo Torre asserted that star player Kawhi Leonard received a $28 million no-show endorsement from Aspiration, a company with financial ties to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. These allegations have led to the increased examination of current NBA policies and raised questions as to whether the NBA can take a more proactive approach to compliance.
Unbalanced Collisions: NFL Concussion Protocols and Ongoing Compliance Challenges
The NFL season is back! Fans are buzzing about new uniforms, preseason rankings, and highlight-worthy plays, and there’s plenty to get excited about. Yet amid all the excitement, one issue continues to remain a pressing concern – the health and safety of the players. Football delivers thrills on the field, but the physical toll on athletes often lasts long after the final whistle. This season offers a chance to take a closer look at how far the NFL has come and how much work remains when it comes to protecting its players.
The New Salary Cap in College Sports: How it Will Work, Why it is Needed, and the Arguments Against It
The overall dynamics of the college sports world has gone through some significant changes over the last few years due to the rise of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), which allows student-athletes to earn payment for sponsorship deals. While this change to the college sports landscape is fairly widely praised, it has raised some significant debate about keeping a competitive balance in the world of college sports, and overall fairness to schools that cannot compete with the vast offers of other programs. This landscape may require a salary cap to alleviate the fairness concerns that arise.
No One Can Watch the Chicago Bulls! And Other Reasons Why the MLB, NBA, and NHL Need to Consider Nationalizing Their Media Rights.
Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) are the TV channels that show a sports team’s games in a local area. Due to a demand for sports by television viewers over the past few decades, RSNs created large revenues from local media rights deals (TV contracts) for professional sports leagues. This issue impacts several of the major professional leagues: the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Baseball (MLB). Currently, due to the trend of cord-cutting and a lack of regulation by the league offices, many fans are left without a viable way to watch their local teams, including much of the City of Chicago.
The End of the ‘No Fund League’: NFL Allows Private Equity Fund Team Ownership
On August 22, 2024, the owners of the National Football League (NFL) teams voted to allow private equity funds to purchase ownership in the teams with 31 out of the 32 team owners voting in favor of the change. Critics of the change raise concerns that private equity investments will cause teams to more aggressively prioritize profit over quality, leading to a poorer fan experience. However, the league has drafted the change with appropriate safeguards to limit the influence of private equity owners while still achieving the goal of increasing funds available to teams to promote stability and growth throughout the league.
Tackling Concussions – How the NFL is Addressing Player Safety
On Thursday, September 12th, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained his third career concussion during a game against the Buffalo Bills. Following his previous concussions, the NFL and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) worked diligently to implement new protocols aimed at enhancing player safety and reducing the risk of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). However, this latest incident has reignited online debate about player safety, TBIs, and the NFL’s implementation of Guardian Caps at training camps and practices.
The ACC’s Anti-Competition Contracts: Why Schools Continue to Fight the Conference’s Exit Regulations
In December 2023, Florida State University’s Board of Trustees filed suit against the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) challenging the ACC’s grant of rights and “draconian” exit penalties. About three months later in March 2024, Clemson University filed a complaint against the conference challenging those same exit penalties and grant of rights issues. In response, the ACC filed legal challenges against both schools, arguing they agreed to the contract terms and were not allowed to leave the conference or challenge those agreements. Courts will have to look to the ACC’s grant of rights agreement, Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, and State antitrust laws in determining who will succeed in this lawsuit. Several other schools have gotten around their conference’s grant of rights agreements in the Big 10, and Pac-12. However, unlike those conferences’ grants of rights agreements expiring in 2024 and 2025, the ACC’s agreement lasts until June 2036. Regardless, it is going to be difficult for these schools to succeed in challenging the agreements in court.
Congress Needs to Pass a Nationwide NIL Law
Matthew Sluka, starting quarterback for the then-undefeated University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) football team, elected to use his redshirt designation and sit out for the rest of the 2024-25 football season, claiming that he was not paid the entirety of the $100,000 NIL deal he was recruited on. Sluka is now the first player to sit out in-season because of NIL disputes. However, it is very likely he will not be the last. Sluka claims that he was promised the $100,000 by the offensive coordinator. The school and team dispute the claims by Sluka, saying they had never promised him any money and the $3,000 he had received was for honoring a separate NIL engagement that summer. UNLV is claiming that Sluka and his representation’s financial demands to keep playing are against NCAA rules and Nevada state law. NCAA rules and Nevada law stipulate that a player cannot receive NIL just to play for or attend a school, there must be quid pro quo, (sign autographs, meet and greets, etc.) in order to profit from their name, image or likeness. Regardless of the underlying truth, Sluka’s situation has highlighted exactly why the NCAA cannot regulate NIL anymore.