College Sports Law Blog

Judge Thomas Gavin has ruled that Mike McQueary's whistleblower and defamation lawsuit against Penn State can move forward.  The court ruled that McQueary showed Penn State's conduct was sufficiently outrageous to allow the case to continue.  More information on McQueary's case can be found here.

On April 6, 2013, the University of Miami School of Law is hosting its 16th Annual Entertainment and Sports Law Symposium.  I will be speaking on the NCAA Amateurism panel.  If you are in the area, please come by for a great discussion on relevant issues in sports and entertainment law.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions (“Committee”) recently issued its findings and found that Saint Mary’s College of California (“SMC”) committed major violations of NCAA legislation. Included in the case were allegations of intentional violations of NCAA bylaws concerning impermissible recruiting inducements provided to prospective student-athletes and unethical conduct on the part of a then assistant men’s basketball coach who later became the director of men’s basketball operations (“former assistant coach”), as well as extra benefits, a failure to promote an atmosphere for compliance and a failure to monitor by the head men’s basketball coach (“head coach”).

Whether cheerleading is a sport was recently back before the courts.  Again, United States District Court Judge Stefan R. Underhill has ruled that competitive cheerleading has not developed enough to be considered a college sport for Title IX purposes and, thus, Judge Underhill ordered Quinnipiac to keep the women’s volleyball team and create a compliance plan.  Since previous rulings in the case, the cheerleading team has been renamed the acrobatics and tumbling team and two organizations have created more cohesive rules of competition and a better championship format.  Although impressed by the changes, Judge Underhill stopped short of believing that cheerleading has evolved enough to be considered a sport for Title IX purposes.  Judge Underhill pointed out that acrobatics and tumbling is not recognized by the NCAA as a sport or an emerging sport.  Additionally, he stated “acro lacks what every other varsity men’s team sponsored by Quinnipiac enjoys: the chance to participate in an NCAA-sponsored championship.”  More information on previously rulings can be found here.

As previously discussed, New Jersey has sought to allow for legalized betting on sporting events, which drew the ire of the four major sports leagues and the NCAA and ultimately resulted in litigation.  New Jersey argued that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (“PASPA”) is unconstitutional.  PASPA is a law that prohibits legal sports gambling in every state other than Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, and Montana.  U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp upheld PASPA and stated “judicial intervention is generally unwarranted no matter how unwise a court considers a policy decision of the legislative branch.  As such, to the extent the people of New Jersey disagree with PASPA, their remedy is not through passage of a state law or through the judiciary, but through the repeal or amendment of PASPA in Congress.”  New Jersey has announced that it will appeal the decision of the United States District Court.  The NCAA has announced that it will no longer ban NCAA championship events in New Jersey.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions (“Committee”) recently issued its findings and found that the University of Southern Mississippi (“USM”) committed major violations of NCAA legislation. The major infractions at issue involved the men’s tennis program and including intentional violations of NCAA bylaws concerning extra benefits, the principle of cooperation in investigations, as we as unethical conduct by coaches in the institution’s men’s tennis program over a two-year period beginning in January 2008 through May 2010.

Taking advantage of an NCAA interpretation of the amateurism rules that allows a student-athlete to return funds received through litigation, Johnny Manziel’s corporation, JMAN2 Enterprises, has filed suit against Eric Vaughan for the sale of t-shirts using “Johnny Football.”  The lawsuit seeks damages for the use of “Johnny Football” in accordance with a trademark theory.  Under Texas law, an individual or entity has common law trademark rights even though the mark has not been registered with the USPTO or the process has not completed. 

The external review of NCAA Enforcement’s use of an attorney to help gather information in the Miami investigation has been discussed thoroughly by the media.  The investigation found that some members of the enforcement staff: 1) knowingly circumvented legal advice to engage Nevin Shapiro’s criminal defense attorney; 2) violated the internal NCAA policy of legal counsel only being retained and monitored by the legal staff; 3) paid insufficient attention to the concern that engaging the criminal defense attorney could constitute an inappropriate manipulation of the bankruptcy process; 4) did not sufficiently consider the membership’s understanding about the limits of the enforcement staff’s investigative powers; 5) did not violate a specific bylaw or law; 6) enforcement leadership exercised insufficient oversight of the engagement of the criminal defense attorney; and 7) the legal and enforcement staffs took appropriate action to rectify the situation once they realized select enforcement staff members had engaged the criminal defense attorney.  For more information and review, click here.

For any questions, feel free to contact Christian Dennie at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

As previously reported, Pennsylvania law makers set forth legislation designed to keep the NCAA’s $60 million fine levied on Pennsylvania State University (“Penn State”) in Pennsylvania.  Politicians in Pennsylvania have bemoaned the NCAA’s desire to use the funds to finance child abuse prevention initiatives outside of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  In the suit, the NCAA argues the Pennsylvania Institution of Higher Education Monetary Penalty Endowment Act (“Act”) violates the United States Constitution’s commerce clause and contract clause.  In short, the NCAA argues the Act directly regulates interstate commerce, which is similar to the arguments upheld in Miller v. NCAA in Nevada.  The NCAA’s petition states “[b]y seizing the funds and restricting eligibility to benefit from the funds only to Pennsylvania programs benefiting only Pennsylvania residents, the act will defeat the consent decree’s plain terms and frustrate the parties’ intended purpose.”

The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (“CIAA”) has filed suit against party promoters, concert promoters, and many others to protect the intellectual property rights associated with the conference name, logos, and marks.  According to the suit, CIAA plays its basketball championship tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina each year (this year’s tournament will be played February 26-March 2).  A number of local concert promoters, nightclubs, and merchandisers have prepared merchandise and distributable materials promoting events held during the tournament.  The materials contain references to CIAA or indicate an affiliation with the conference.  As a result, CIAA seeks damages that are triple the value of any profits derived from unauthorized use of CIAA’s name, logos, and marks.