College Sports Law Blog

According to playoffpac.com, Playoff PAC (“PAC”) is “a federal political committee dedicated to establishing a competitive post-season championship for college football.”   PAC’s primary goal is to rid college football of the Bowl Championship Series, thereby opening the doors to a playoff system.  In recent weeks, PAC has turned its attentions to the Fiesta Bowl and has filed complaints with attorney generals in nine states including Connecticut, Oklahoma, Idaho, West Virginia, Ohio, Texas, Oregon, Alabama, and Florida.  PAC is challenging the legality of a contract between the Fiesta Bowl and an Arizona visitors bureau.  According to PAC’s complaint, the Fiesta Bowl receives more than $8 million over a period of 20 years for requiring institutions (and their constituents) playing in the bowl to stay in high-priced hotels in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.  PAC terms this arrangement a “kickback” and has requested that the attorney generals in the above-referenced nine states conduct investigations into the legality of the agreement.

The University of North Dakota (“UND”) has been through a gauntlet of legal maneuvers since the NCAA announced it would penalize institutions using hostile and abusive racial/ethnic mascots, nicknames, and imagery.  First, UND sued the NCAA claiming the legislation was violative of state law.  Ultimately, the case was resolved giving UND the opportunity to seek approval from the Sioux tribes to use the name and mascot.  UND was unable to get such approval.  Then, the North Dakota legislature enacted legislation that would not allow UND to change the name or mascot.  Subsequently, six Native Americans filed suit in federal court seeking to eliminate UND’s Fighting Sioux nickname by stating the state statute prohibiting any change to UND’s name or mascot violates the constitution of North Dakota and the above-referenced settlement between UND and the NCAA.  All of the arguing, consternation, and discussion can be put to sleep.  The North Dakota Board of Higher Education announced on August 15, 2011 that the Fighting Sioux name will be changed by the end of the year.  It is anticipated that the legislation referenced above will be repealed.

As previously reported, ESPN filed suit against Conference USA and indicated that Conference USA backed out of a new contract worth approximately $22 million.  On August 16, 2011, espn.com reported that the parties amicably resolved their dispute.  In accordance with the settlement agreement, ESPN will televise Conference USA’s football championship game from 2011-2015.  All the remaining inventory of Conference USA football games will be televised by Fox.  Reportedly, Fox executives worked with Conference USA to help resolve the dispute and find a solution that was beneficial for all sides.

How many times have we used the phrase “it is just a ….”  In the case of Oklahoma contractor Brent Loveland (“Loveland”), “it is just a shirt, coach” did not work out well.  According to a lawsuit recently filed by Loveland, Oklahoma State University (“OSU”) head football coach Mike Gundy (“Coach Gundy”) took umbrage to the contractor wearing a University of Oklahoma (“OU”) t-shirt to his home while he was being paid to perform services.  Loveland was hired to perform floor trim carpentry work.

On August 1, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division alleging that Brian Bjork and David Salinas (now deceased) illegally developed a scheme to defraud more than one hundred investors of $39 million through the sale of bogus corporate bonds.  It has been widely reported that dozens of high-profile college basketball coaches invested substantial sums of money with Salinas and Bjork and have reportedly lost more than $7.8 million.  Salinas and Bjork “lulled” investors into believing the investments were safe and promised returns of up to 9%.  The suit further states that Salinas and Bjork developed a seven-year scheme in which they sold corporate bonds that did not exist.  Salinas and Bjork even provided fraudulent account statements to investors for corporate bonds that did not exist.

As reported in early July, the family of Ereck Plancher, a former University of Central Florida (“UCF”) football student-athlete, received a verdict in the amount of $10 million relating to his death on a UCF practice field.  Recently, UCF requested that the trial judge overturn the $10 million verdict.  Circuit Judge Robert Evans refused to overturn the verdict last week.  As a result, this matter will likely make its way through the Florida appellate courts, unless a post-verdict settlement can be reached.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions (“Committee”) recently issued its findings and found that the Louisiana State University (“LSU”) committed major violations of NCAA legislation. The case primarily involved a former assistant football coach and his knowledge of violations involving prospect 1.  The former assistant football coach directed two student workers in the athletics department to transport prospect 1 from the New Orleans airport to LSU’s football offices when prospect 1 arrived for his April 2009 unofficial visit; the former assistant coach arranged for impermissible transportation when prospect 1 arrived in the vicinity of campus in late May 2009; the former assistant football coach knowingly provided impermissible transportation to prospect 1 on two occasions; and the former assistant football coach made impermissible phone calls to prospect 1 using a cell whose existence he concealed from LSU.  Additionally, further violations occurred when three non-coaching members of the athletics administration made or received over 3,6000 phone calls to or from high school coaches and administrators, prospects, and family members of prospects.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions (“Committee”) recently issued its findings and found that the Georgia Institute of Technology (“GT”) committed major violations of NCAA legislation. The Committee heavily chastised GT for failing to meet the NCAA cooperative principal and conditions and obligations of membership and stated “this case provides a cautionary tale of conduct that member institutions should avoid while under investigation of NCAA rules.  Rather than fulfilling its requirements under NCAA bylaws, Georgia Tech failed to cooperate in an apparent effort to avoid potential allegations of rules violations, thereby eliminating the need to withhold two highly talented football student-athletes from end of the season competition.”

Last week, I reported on and provided analysis of the lawsuit filed by University of North Carolina (“UNC”) football student-athlete Michael McAdoo and his request for reinstatement of his athletic eligibility.  On July 13, 2011, the parties presented to Court for a temporary injunction hearing.  Temporary injunction hearings are important, because a ruling in favor of McAdoo would likely show the judge is favorable to his position, whereas a ruling against McAdoo nearly decimates his likelihood of success.  For a plaintiff to succeed in a temporary injunction hearing, a plaintiff must show 1) the existence of a wrongful act; 2) the probable right to recover on a cause of action; 3) a probable, imminent, and irreparable injury; and 4) the absence of an adequate remedy at law (i.e., monetary damages would not suffice).

On July 8, 2011, Jim Tressel (“Coach”) and Ohio State University (“OSU”) entered into an agreement titled Agreement and Release of All Claims (“Agreement”).  The Agreement is fairly standard.  Coach and OSU release all claims against one another.  Under the Agreement, Coach was allowed to retire from OSU effective June30, 2011 and he was provided with a lump sum payment for accrued vacation and/or sick time equal to 240 hours. No other payment was provided.