Category: Professional sports

Find expert witnesses and attorneys who can meet your needs

XFL Names Wendy Bass Chief Legal Officer

The XFL has announced that Wendy Bass has joined the League as Chief Business and Legal Officer. Bass will oversee the Legal, People Operations, and Technology departments and be responsible for the League’s broadcast partnership with The Walt Disney Company and ESPN. She will also oversee the League’s betting and gaming efforts and will assist…
Read more

Is There a Connection Between the Scarcity of Sports Law Jobs in Professional Sports and Unethical Treatment of Sports Lawyers?

By Chris Deubert,  of Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete LLP In the last 18 months or so, I’ve spoken with three attorneys who left positions with professional sports teams or organizations due to ethical concerns. There are certainly more who have left or are considering doing so for the same reasons. This is an unfortunate…
Read more

Proskauer Sports Lawyer Christine Lazatin Promoted to Partner

Proskauer has announced the promotion of 33 lawyers – 25 to partner and 8 to senior counsel. Notable in that group is the promotion of Christine Lazatin to partner. As a member of the Sports Group, Lazatin regularly represents professional sports teams, leagues and owners, corporate borrowers and financial institutions in a variety of transactional…
Read more

American Public Favors Code of Conduct for NBA Owners

With Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner Robert Sarver under fire following revelations of racist language as well as inappropriate, “sex-related” comments and “inequitable treatment of women,” 75 percent of sports fans believe that a code of conduct for owners should be adopted, just as there is one for NBA players. Should NBA owners be subject…
Read more

Survey Finds Americans’ Opinions on Home Run Record Vary

56 percent of fans say Aaron Judge is the ‘rightful’ record holder, not Barry Bonds; Fans approve of expanded wildcard format Aaron Judge’s pursuit of Roger Maris’ American League record of 61 home runs in a single season was well supported by sports fans, according to a Seton Hall Sports Poll conducted this this week…
Read more

Emma Compton Joins Cincinnati Bengals as Team’s First GC

Emma Compton, who graduated from law school just two years ago, has joined the Cincinnati Bengals as the team’s first general counsel. Growing up in Cincinnati, Compton told the media she “a fan” and had “a passion for this team. … But being able to mold two different passions of mine in sports and the…
Read more

Professional athletes perform better against former clubs, according to research

A team of Russian researchers have found professional athletes to perform better against their former clubs. At least in some circumstances, emotions seem to have a greater effect on their performance than knowledge of the opponent’s tactics. The study’s findings are published in the Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Economics and may be useful for…
Read more

Hogan Lovells Represents Rob Walton in Deal to Acquire NFL’s Denver Broncos

The global law firm of Hogan Lovells represented Rob Walton, Carrie Walton Penner and Greg Penner in the purchase and sale agreement announced on June 7 for the Walton-Penner family to acquire the Denver Broncos from the Pat Bowlen Trust. The Hogan Lovells deal team was led by partners Matt Eisler, head of the firm’s…
Read more

Match Fixing on the Rise as Global Sports Betting Turnover Surpasses EUR1.45 Trillion for the First Time

(Editor’s Note: The following appeared in the most recent issue of MyLegalBookie, a publication that reports on the legal sports betting industry.) The detection of a record number of suspicious matches exposes the serious, ongoing threat match-fixing presents to the integrity of global sport at all levels as the amount of money bet on sports…
Read more

Veteran Sports Lawyers Chuck Baker and Irwin Raij Join Sidley

The shakeup in the sports law industry continued last week with news that Sidley Austin LLP had brought in Charles “Chuck” Baker and Irwin Raij as partners and co-chairs of its Entertainment, Sports and Media industry group. Baker has joined in New York and Miami, while Raij has joined in Miami. They were previously co-chairs of…
Read more