Sports lawyer Justin Sievert has joined the Jacksonville Jaguars as their new general counsel. Sievert, previously the chair of the sports and gaming practice at Vela Wood, has reportedly replaced Jaguars general counsel Lauren Strackbine, who joined the San Jose Sharks of the NHL last month as that team’s deputy general counsel. News reports suggested…
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The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the largest professional lacrosse property in the world, has continued its “commitment to its foundational pillars of heritage, inclusion and service with the unveiling of NLL Unites, the league’s umbrella social responsibility program.” NLL Unites will “combine the efforts of the league, teams, players and partners to promote each of…
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Beneficiaries of the Alert include both the private sector and higher education, where professors use the Alert with thousands of sports law students. As Hackney Publications closes in on the completion of its 18th year of publishing Sports Litigation Alert, publisher Holt Hackney is especially proud of the last two issues. “We’re touching on every…
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(From the pages of Sports Litigation Alert) By William J. Robers, of Sparks Willson, P.C. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest court to decide that interscholastic basketball officials are not “employees” of either the assigning organization or the schools. Girard v. International Association of Approved Basketball Officials, Inc. et al., 20-981-cv (2d…
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By Hannah Dewey The LEAD1 Association (“LEAD1”), which represents the athletics directors of the 130-member schools of the Football Bowl Subdivision (“FBS”), recently surveyed approximately 100 of its FBS athletics directors on whether the employment status of college athletes would impact funding of non-revenue sports. Of the LEAD1 athletics directors surveyed, more than 90 percent…
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Richard Lapchick, Director of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida, released the 2021 Major League Soccer Racial and Gender Report Card earlier this week, extolling praise on the association. Using data from the 2021 season, the Report Card includes an analysis of the racial breakdown of…
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By Stephen A. Miller[1] For decades, the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) resisted efforts to allow its athletes to earn outside income. The Association delayed, litigated, formed some task forces, delayed some more… but eventually surrendered in July 2021 after its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on this issue was unanimously rejected. The surrender…
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Power & Cronin, Ltd announced today the hire of Michael Viverito, building upon its existing sports law practice group. Besides sports law, Viverito will also focus his practice on Corporate Law, Workers’ Compensation, and Intellectual Property. He will support Jared P. Vasilauskas, who heads the practice group. Vasilauskas noted that one of the things that…
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The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has appointed Kevin Carpenter as its first-ever Head of Integrity. In his new role, Carpenter will develop and lead the ITTF Integrity Unit to be at the forefront of the protection of integrity of sport within the Olympic Movement. The ITTF Integrity Unit is an operationally independent unit established…
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Hundreds of colleges and universities across the country, both public and private, have issued mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies. Now with the fall semester in full swing students, faculty and staff (especially in athletics) have been challenging the mandates. Institutions find themselves facing litigation that challenges these policies. Well over 100 vaccine mandate lawsuits have been…
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