Resources for Teaching Sports Law

Resources for Teaching Sports Law

This page is for the benefit of law professors (full-time and adjunct practitioners) and their students. The goal is, over time, to develop this site as a resource for syllabi, course content, and how to teach or explain major cases. The 6th edition of Professor Steve Ross' co-authored casebook, Weiler, Roberts, Abrams, Ross, Harper, Balsam & Berry, Sports and the Law (West Academic) is now available online.

Information about Professor Ross' new book, An Advanced Introduction to Global Sports Law (Edgar Publishing)

Annotations with citations and references forthcoming.

Additional Resources and Links to the Ongoing Webinar Series

Information about the 6th Edition

The new edition reflects substantial revisions, and we hope you share our view that it improves the teaching effectiveness of our casebook. In some instances, our editing has removed cases that some of you may wish to retain. To allow you to easily do so, feel free to share with your students omitted cases from the 5th edition. 

Documentary Supplement

In lieu of a hard-copy supplement published in connection with prior editions, we are now making documents available online.

Supplemental Teaching Resources

For those interested in modifying prior work, Professor Ross’ PowerPoint presentations for a general sports law class based on the 5th edition, as well as current slides for a course on global sports law (updating American concepts) are available.

In addition, the following links are to handouts supplementing or updating the material in the Sports and the Law text:

1. Note on Waiver and Option Rules
2. Note on the Rule 5 Draft
3. For MLS salaries, see https://www.mlsplayers.org/salary_info.html; for an excellent source of other salary information, see https://sites.google.com/site/rodswebpages/codes
4. For contested analyses of the McNeil case, which illustrate rule of reason arguments regarding labor restraints, see the remarks of players’ counsel Jeffrey Kessler and league counsel Jeff Pash. 
5. Overview of the business dynamics of sport: Stephen F. Ross, Dealing with Private Losers: Sports Governance, the Coase Theorem, and Public Choice Theory 

Updates and post-text supplemental material

We plan on continuing, if available, the annual summary of sports law developments presented at the Sports Lawyers Association meeting. The May 2019 report is available here. As other cutting-edge updates occur that warrant class discussion, we will link them below. 

• Update on Labor Law (appropriate bargaining unit) from Prof. Harper):
  • This petition is a request by a union independent of the NFLPA to sever running backs from the bargaining unit represented by the NFLPA. It is akin to severance petitions filed by craft unions, especially before the merger of the AFL and the CIO, to break-off particular skilled workers from wall-to-wall industrial unions. The petition presents a good problem for discussion. How might the independent union argue that a separate bargaining unit is appropriate because the running backs have distinct interests from those of the other players, including quarterbacks? Is the shorter average length of career and greater frequency of hard contact for running backs relevant? How might the NFLPA and the NFL argue against the separate bargaining unit? Would addressing these interests separately encumber the negotiation of salary structures and safety rules? Severance seems very unlikely. Current Labor Board doctrine considers, inter alia, the history and pattern of collective bargaining in the industry and the degree of integration of the employer’s operations.
• ​The attached note summarizes the provisions of California legislation (SB 206) barring universities within the Golden State from depriving students of the opportunity to receive compensation for rights of publicity, and the most recent 9th Circuit decision in that regard.
• Excerpt from Chisholm v. St. Mary’s School District (Title IX case about sexist emotional abuse by a football coach)
• Excerpt from Semenya v IAAF (CAS decision upholding rule excluding female athletes with differential sex disorder from certain competitions absent testosterone-lowering medication)
• Excerpt from State ex re. Hewitt v. Rams (MO Supreme Court decision finding agreement  to arbitrate employment dispute before NFL Commissioner is unconscionable)
• Note on NFL Sunday Ticket antitrust litigation in 9^th Circuit

Syllabi

Finally, we hope to promote an exchange of ideas among our adopters by sharing syllabi.  Here are some different ways to approach the class based on different scheduling and interests.

• A 3-hour course focusing on professional sports (Prof. Berry)
• A 3-hour course focusing on collegiate sports (Prof. Berry)
• A 3-hour survey course (Prof. Balsam)
• A 2-hour survey course (Prof. Balsam)
• A 3-hour course focusing on problem-solving and business dynamics (Prof. Ross)
• A 2-hour practicum course (Prof. Joe Goldhammer, University of Denver)
• A 3-hour course on global sports law (Prof. Ross) [supplemental cases are available on request]

Supplementary Citations

As noted in the Casebook, we have decided to save costs and space by moving detailed citations of sources from the hard copy to this website. View the supplementary citations document.

We hope you find these materials helpful.

We eagerly invite adopters to share your own syllabus. In particular, we are interested in learning how practitioners who share their own experiences in the classroom incorporate our work. Please email comments, and share your syllabus, by contacting Steve Ross at sfr10@psu.edu.