Sports Law Forum Bulletin: Spring 2014

 

SPRING EVENTS

 

18th Annual Sports Law Symposium

Despite the close scare of Fordham University closing due to Snowstorm Pax, the Fordham Sports Law Forum hosted its 18th Annual Sports Law Symposium on Friday, February 14.  The event started by hearing opening remarks from Dean John Feerick, the Forum’s faculty advisor.  Following this, Joseph Collins, Esq. spoke as this year’s keynote speaker.  Mr. Collins has been Counsel for the New York Yankees since 2011.

The three panels of discussion during the 18th Annual Sports Law Symposium were:

  1. Should Some Advantages Be Allowable? The Arguments Surrounding the Permissibility of Performance Enhancement
  2. The New Face of Sports Agency: The Runner Rule and Roc Nation’s Challenge to Traditional Notions of Athlete Representation
  3. Marooning the Mascot: The Implications of Blackhorse v. Pro-Football

A full description of the panel topics and attending panelists can be found here.

 

2nd Annual Fordham National Basketball Negotiation Competition

In just its second year, the Fordham National Basketball Negotiation Competition hosted 32 teams of students of 22 law schools from across the country.  The competition took place on March 21-23, 2014.  Each team negotiated in three preliminary rounds.  The first was a contract negotiation between the Los Angeles Lakers and Lebron James.  The second round was a television contract negotiation between the National Basketball Association and Fox Sports 1.  The final preliminary round was a preliminary negotiation between the National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Players’ Association focusing on the age limit of players.

That Saturday afternoon, eight teams advanced to the Quarterfinal rounds.  The Semifinal and Final Rounds took place on Sunday, March 23.  The Final Round was between Liberty University School of Law (Team 6) and St. Mary’s University School of Law (Team 16).  The round was judged by Jason Belzer, founder and President of Global Athlete Management Enterprises, Inc. (GAME, Inc.), Richard Roth, founder and Partner of The Roth Law Firm, and Marc Edelman, Law Professor and Sports Business Scholar.  At the end of the 50-minute negotiation, Liberty University School of Law (Team 6) was declared the champions.  Additionally, Josh Turner of Liberty University School of Law (Team 7) was named the 2014 Best Advocate.

2014NBNC 1-1

(Left to right) Jason Belzer, Richard Roth, and Marc Edelman

 

COMPETITIONS

 

Students Compete at the National Baseball Arbitration Competition

This January, the Fordham Sports Law Forum sent first-year law students Hannah Goldman, Jason Robinson, and Gregory Uffner to represent Fordham University School of Law in the National Baseball Arbitration Competition.  The team was coached by Amanda Asaro, Rob Cohen, and Andrew Todres.

Tulane team 2

The competition, run by Tulane Sports Law Society, is a simulated salary arbitration competition modeled closely on the procedures used by Major League Baseball.  Like most law school moot court competitions, the competition provides an opportunity for students to sharpen their written and oral advocacy skills in the specialized context of MLB’s salary arbitration proceedings.  The competition is held annually in the early part of the spring academic semester at Tulane University Law School.

This year, as in years past, the competition was modeled off of real arbitration cases.  It required students to argue against or on behalf of a player who was eligible for salary arbitration in 2014.  Fordham represented Josh Reddick against the Oakland Athletics, Eric Hosmer against the Kansas City Royals, and the Atlanta Braves against Jeff Samardzija.

Going into the competition, Fordham ranked third overall out of over thirty-five teams based solely on their brief scores.

Particularly rewarding for the first year competitors were the accomplished judges in front of whom they argued: Nona Lee, Senior Vice President of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Marc Kligman, agent for Carlos Ruiz; and Jay Franklin, agent for Ian Kinsler.  Fordham finished the competition strong, scoring a perfect 100 in its final round.

 

FORUM UPDATES

 

Congratulations to the new FSLF Executive Board!

 

 

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