Penn State Institute for Sports Law, Policy, and Research — Institute Activities

"A Conversation with Mike Breen and Jim O'Connell"

The Institute hosted "A Conversation with Mike Breen and Jim O'Connell." Malcolm Moran, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society and director of the Curley Center, moderated the session.

Breen has been the lead voice for ESPN/ABC on its coverage of the National Basketball Association, including the NBA Finals, since 2003. Before that, he amassed 12 seasons of NBA play-by-play experience, working national telecasts for NBC Sports and New York Knicks games for Madison Square Garden television and radio networks.

"A Conversation with Richard Berthelsen, General Counsel of the NFL Players Association" 

The Sports Law Institute hosted a conversation with Richard Berthelsen, General Counsel of the NFL Players Association.  Berthelsen has been with the NFLPA for over 35 years, and the conversation will cover virtually all aspects of sports law and policy. Participants joined Steve Ross (Professor of Law) and Doug Allen (Visiting Professor of Labor & IR) to hear Dick’s perspectives on a range of issues including the power of the Commissioner, labor restraints, drug use and abuse, off-field misbehavior, agent regulation, contract negotiations, etc.

Professor Ross hosted a discussion and question/answer session on legal and strategic aspects of the new NFL labor deal with Doug Allen, Visiting Professor of Practice/ Labor Leader in Residence in the Department of Labor & Industrial Relations.

Allen served for many years as the Deputy Director of the NFL Players Association, where he pioneered licensing efforts and was involved in the decisive labor disputes in recent years. He is an alumnus both of Penn State’s labor department, where he now teaches, and from Linebacker U, in addition to a career in the NFL.

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Professor Stephen Ross presented a timely and provocative CLE over Blue-White Weekend titled "Radical Reform of Intercollegiate Athletics: Antitrust, Title IX, and Public Policy Implications."

"Intercollegiate athletics face myriad problems and many consider this a looming crisis. Current levels of spending appear to be non-sustainable," said Ross. "Financially strapped universities spend millions on non-revenue sports that might be better spent elsewhere on campus; revenue-sports elite athletes contribute millions while many struggle financially."

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A Conversation about College Football, Past and Present

Professor Michael Oriard, distinguished professor of American Literature and Culture at Oregon State University, will be featured speaker.

This event is being co-sponsored by the Institute for Sports Law, Policy and Research; Department of Kinesiology; Institute for Arts and Humanities; Center for Sports Business & Research; Curley Center for Sports Journalism. 

On January 20, Professor Stephen Ross testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary regarding the antitrust implications of American Needle.

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Penn State Law Professor Stephen Ross' op-ed "Notre Dame Wins, Bearcat Players Lose, Lawyers Could Have Helped" about University of Cincinnati's Head Football Coach Brian Kelly leaving the Bearcats has been published online by the Cincinnati Enquirer.

On Friday, November 20, the Institute hosted a moot court event on American Needle v. NFL, an antitrust case currently briefed before the United States Supreme Court. Watch two law professors argue before a panel of three federal judges.

Related documents:

• Court of Appeals decision (CA7)
• Petitioner's Merits Brief
• American Antitrust Institute Amicus Brief
• Economists Amicus Brief
• NFL's Merits Brief
• Unofficial Transcript of Supreme Court Oral Argument

The Institute held a webcast featuring Matt Baldwin, one of the leading attorneys in the representation of college coaches, who works for the global sports management firm IMG. Mr. Baldwin discussed his experiences at a big Four sports firm, including legal issues regarding contracts, economics of the market for college coaches, endorsement deals, ethical issues, recruiting, and relationship to the media.

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The Globalisation of Sport: How Australian Law teaches an American Law Professor how to Advise a British Sports Manager Helping Build an Indian Sports League

Professor Ross will discuss the potential expansion of this concept of an independent organiser and its application to American and Australian sports leagues.

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Sports Governance and Equal Opportunity: The Life's Perspectives of Pittsburgh Steelers' Chairman Dan Rooney

Commemorating the recent publication of Rooney's autobiography, Dan Rooney: My 75 Years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL, an inter-discplinary panel will discuss Rooney's insights from several different perspectives:

• the extraordinary vision and willingness of the Rooney's to act in the best interests of the league, in contrast to most owners' short-sighted, self-interested voting: Stephen F. Ross (Law)
• comparing NFL governance to Big Ten governance: Timothy Curley (Athletics)
• the lessons of the Rooney Rule re hiring coaches for employment diversity programs: Terrell Jones (Vice President for Educational Equity)

Steroids & Baseball - Where Is The Public Interest?

A roundtable discussion with pioneering reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, moderated by Professor of Law Stephen Ross, with Penn State Professors Scott Kretchmar, an expert on sports philosophy and ethics, and Charles Yesalis, an expert on health effects of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.

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Presented by Penn State Law and co-sponsored by the Penn State Institute for Sports Law, Policy, and Research; Center for Sports Business Research (Smeal College of Business); and the Curley Center for Sports Journalism (College of Communications)

Reporters who broke the BALCO/Barry Bonds story give a presentation at University Park.

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