Connecting a Love of Sports to a Love of Intellectual Property Law

Sports have always played a significant role in my life, shaping my personal identity and relationships along with my professional pursuits in intellectual property law. Before discussing how sports sparked my interest in practicing intellectual property, I want to share how my love for sports began. Playing soccer connected me to my community and taught me perseverance. Watching Manchester United kept me in touch with my European family and built a stronger relationship with my Nana. I found pride in being a student at the athletic powerhouse of the University of Georgia and, during my senior year, got to experience the feeling when your team wins a championship. My freshman-year roommate, a die-hard Chicago Bears fan, sparked my Bears fandom as we watched the team every football weekend. Since I have always been captured by sports’ power to unite communities, countries, and even the world, I knew I wanted sports to remain a meaningful part of my life.

From a young age, I knew I wanted to pursue a career that applies my skills to my interests. Throughout middle and high school, I excelled in mathematics. I initially thought I wanted to pursue an engineering degree but ultimately found it wasn’t a fit. I then considered how I could connect my interest in sports and mathematic skills to a career in sports statistics. However, in an interesting turn of events, I double majored in International Affairs and Political Science. Through my undergrad experience, I found a fit within the legal field. While applying to law school, I revisited my interest in sports and began investigating legal practice areas within the world of sports. From there, my interest in intellectual property (IP) law began. I am fascinated by how IP intersects with a variety of aspects within sports, from team trademarks and equipment patents to stadium contracts. As I learned more about IP and sports law, I developed an interest in the broader scope of IP law.

Adoption of the NIL Protects Student-Athlete Intellectual Property Rights

My awareness of the link between sports and law grew while at the University of Georgia (UGA). At the time I didn’t fully understand the connection to intellectual property, but now appreciate the intriguing nature of intellectual property within sports. During my time at UGA, college sports shifted due to the adoption of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) Policy in 2021. This policy became well known across sports fandoms because it changed the nature of recruiting and therefore the composition of the teams.

Every game day in Athens, Georgia and college cities across the countries, hundreds of thousands of fans wear jerseys and memorabilia representing their favorite athletes. Before the NIL policy, any profit derived from the athletes’ name, image, and likeness (i.e. merchandise sales) went to their respective association. As explained in this post by Alexandra Angyalosy, the NIL Policy now allows student-athletes to profit from their personal brand through a type of IP officially called the right of publicity, although it is often also called name, image and likeness. The potential for college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness resulted in college sports recruiting to present the potential for NIL earnings to prospects. For more on the effect of NIL on collegiate athletes see Meredith Wickenheiser’s IP Bytes blog post: Roll Tide? How State Name, Image, and Likeness Laws Will Impact Collegiate Athletic Dynasties.

NCAA athletes – whom some fans worship as celebrities – have started collaborating with companies such as Nike, Chipotle, Kroger, Doordash, etc. Consider two popular players in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) who directly used their names to establish NIL deals. UGA two-time national championship quarterback, Stetson Bennet, also known as “The Mailman,” became “The Milkman” through an NIL deal with the Georgia Dairy Alliance. University of Alabama’s star football player, Kool-Aid McKinstry landed a deal with Kool-Aid Fruit Flavored Drinks. The ability of student-athletes to benefit from their own name, image, and likeness highlights the importance of intellectual property rights.

Intellectual Property and Loyola Chicago Sports & Entertainment Law Society

When deciding on what law school to attend, my primary focus was finding a supportive and intellectual community. A friend, who is now working in IP litigation, introduced me to the IP communities and the Sports and Entertainment Law Society at Loyola Chicago. I was excited by the intersection of the two Loyola communities which played an important role in my decision to attend Loyola Chicago School of Law.

Through the Sports and Entertainment Law Society (SELS), I had the opportunity to speak with the Chicago Bulls’ Associate General Counsel as a 1L. He talked about how IP law plays a major role in his work from the team’s social media to players’ name, image, and likeness. Consider the infamous Number 23, Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls. To this day, Jordan’s likeness brings himself and the city of Chicago millions of dollars. SELS also held a panel discussing the effect of NIL on college sports.

From Sports to The Broader Scope of Intellectual Property Rights

After learning about intellectual property in sports, I became intrigued by the whole practice area of IP. I initially thought that my focus would remain within sports but have found an interest in practicing IP litigation across industries. To learn more about the practice as a whole, I summered at a boutique intellectual property and commercial litigation firm where I was exposed to IP across industries such as software, medical technology, and business branding. This year (2L), I am enrolled in Professor Ho’s IP survey course and IP appellate advocacy (a legal writing course on appeals for intellectual property issues). Next summer, I will be summering at Benesch Law where I hope to learn more about the field of intellectual property law. I hope to continue pursuing sports in IP but am happy with the place in my career my love for sports has brought me.

Emma Leigh Welch
Associate Blogger
Loyola University Chicago School of Law, J.D. 2026