Major League Baseball’s Salary Arbitration Exchange Date was this past Friday, January 13th. Entering Friday, there were over 200 MLB Players who knew what team they would be playing for in 2023 but had not yet come to an agreement as to what salary they would be paid. If no settlement can be reached between the Clubs and Player representatives by the end of exchange day, both sides submit a salary figure to be decided by an arbitrator in a hearing. Although most players were able to reach a settlement with their teams, such as stars Juan Soto ($23M), Vladimir Guerrero Jr ($14.4M), Julio Urias ($14.25M), and Josh Hader ($14.1M), when the dust finally settled there were 33 players/teams who ultimately filed. The biggest differential in filing numbers belongs to Kyle Tucker v. Astros and Bo Bichette v. Blue Jays, with both Players and both teams filing at $7.5M and $5M respectively. The Tampa Bay Rays lead all MLB teams with seven hearings scheduled. Check out below to see what your favorite team has in store! Total Filings By Team: 7 Players Filing (1) Tampa Bay Rays 3 Players Filing (1) Seattle Mariners 2 Players Filing (6) Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, & St. Louis Cardinals 1 Player Filing (11) Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, & Washington Nationals 0 Players Filing (11) Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, & Texas Rangers Filings by Team: Filings by Differential: Dean Rosenberg is a 3L student and the President of the Sports Law Society at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City. He can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-rosenberg-4a1507a1/ and on Twitter @deanrosen7. For all of Dean’s Conduct Detrimental Articles, click here.

In 2022, Former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton announced he was stepping away after 15 seasons leading the team, including winning Super Bowl XLIV in 2009. Since then, Payton has worked as a studio analyst for Fox. Recently, Payton has interviewed (or will interview) with multiple teams, including the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, and appears to be ready to return to the sidelines. However, many fans are wondering why Payton is not free to sign with any team of his choice. Contract Explained In September 2019, the Saints and Payton announced a five-year contract extension, keeping Payton as head coach of the Saints until 2024. Payton abruptly stepped away in 2022, but even when a coach retires, the team retains the coach’s rights for the remainder of the contract term. Thus, until the coach’s contract expires, a former club (in this case, the Saints) must receive compensation for the coach’s (Payton) rights. A coach is not able to freely sign with another team. Similar rules exist for player retirements. The most recent example of a team trading for a coach is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers trading for Bruce Arians in 2019. Bruce Arians stepped away from coaching the Arizona Cardinals in 2017. After the Cardinals and Arians signed a contract extension in 2015, the Cardinals retired the rights to Arians through the 2019 season. When Arians decided to return to coaching in 2019, the Buccaneers gave the Cardinals a sixth-round pick in exchange for the coach. Payton is likely to command much more than a sixth-round pick. After leading the Saints to sixth NFC South titles, eight playoff berths, and a Super Bowl, compensation likely will include a first round pick and more. Coaches of Payton’s caliber are rarely available, but due to the Saints holding Payton’s rights, teams have more to think about than the coach’s annual salary. In the end, it may be worth it for teams looking for immediate success. Landis Barber is an attorney at Safran Law Offices in Raleigh, North Carolina. You can connect with him via LinkedIn or via his blog offthecourtdocket.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Landisbarber.

It’s almost Super Bowl Sunday 2023 and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty clothing and lingerie brand has just revealed that it will be launching a limited-edition Game Day Collection in advance of her scheduled Super Bowl half-time performance. The Game Day collection will feature seventeen pieces. The pieces include feature hoodies, sweatpants, varsity jerseys, tops, hats, beanies, boxers, and a bandana. The performance, which is scheduled to take place in Glendale, Arizona at the State Farm Stadium on Feb. 12 will also be prefaced by a three-day retail pop-up experience in Los Angeles taking place from January 27th to January 29th. At that time, consumers will have a chance to shop the Game Day collection in a store that will feature football-themed mannequin heads and goalposts which will serve as clothing racks, photo moments, and branded giveaways. Rihanna, the headliner of the Super Bowl halftime show, has consistently attracted thousands of concertgoers for past performances. Her popularity, however, could mean that she may run into ticketing issues as fans prepare for the performance by purchasing tickets to the Super Bowl or by buying merchandise from her highly anticipated collection. This issue may be largely due to counterfeit ticketing which has been widespread in sports since last year., Many fans may expect that her merchandise will sell out quickly For Fenty, who is choosing to add a layer of Super Bowl spirit by offering the collection. Because of this, Fenty’s brand may have to contend with online ticket and merchandise scalpers at various levels. The issue of ticket scalping and selling fraudulent merchandise asks the legal community to consider how we can protect consumers and brands from profiting off a brand’s value. Proponents of brand protection have cited that the only way to protect a brand is through using artificial intelligence, which includes NFTS. “NFT stands for ‘non-fungible token’. Non-fungible means that something is unique and can’t be replaced. By contrast, physical money and cryptocurrencies are fungible, which means they can be traded or exchanged for one another. Every NFT contains a digital signature which makes each one unique. NFTs are digital assets and could be photos, videos, audio files, or another digital format. NFT examples include artwork, comic books, sports collectibles, trading cards, games, and more.” A lack of NFTs has made it easier for patrons to scalp, resell, or repurchase fraudulent tickets to attend sporting events. Although NFTs have become more popular recently and brands such as Adidas and Patron have cited success while using NFTs, the issue of fraudulent ticketing during sports events will likely continue to pervade the sports industry. Fraudulent ticketing during sports events has largely resulted in delays and congestion for eager fans who often spend hundreds of dollars to attend various kinds of sporting events. The effect of fraudulent ticketing during sports events has affected athletes’ competitiveness in winning games. Last May, pandemonium ensued at the UEFA Champions League Final in Paris, with claims of fraudulent tickets causing massive delays and bottlenecks at security checkpoints. This resulted in clashes between fans and authorities. If Rihanna is seeking to launch a Game Day Collection in anticipation of her Super Bowl Sunday Half-Time performance, the singer could likely be losing thousands of dollars in merchandise, due to fraudulent purchases in addition to a possible melee due to the limited variety of merchandise being offered to consumers online. Instituting NFTs could be a viable solution to this potential issue since the technology offers complete veracity of the tickets' authenticity. It is not possible to forge NFTs since blockchains are built on top of NFTs Blockchains are systems of transactions made in cryptocurrency. Using blockchain makes cryptographic hash easier to separate. The complete history of the ticket is then recorded from the moment it is minted through the sale of the ticket and revitalization. If the Fenty brand is looking to protect its merchandise and the value of her Super Bowl half-time performance, she should also consider RFID tags for any potentially fraudulent activity that could occur in counterfeiting and pirating her merchandise. “RFID tags are a type of tracking system that uses radio frequency to search, identify, track, and communicate with items and people. Essentially, RFID tags are smart labels that can store a range of information from serial numbers to a short description, and even pages of data.” Using this system would allow consumers and the Fenty brand to protect merchandise that is likely worth a large amount of money. If Fenty chooses to implement RFIDs and NFTs, the brand’s value could increase significantly since consumers will have to verify the authenticity of the merchandise which will make it difficult to resell without any repercussions. We’d like to think that fans would rather decide the authenticity of the plays being called on the field as opposed to whether they purchased authentic limited-edition merchandise from Fenty. Introducing NFTs and RFID chips is the best cause of action to ensure that the brand remains intact as we near Super Bowl Sunday. Lauren E. Johnson is a graduate of Touro Law Center located in Central lslip, New York where she received her Juris Doctor degree. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Political Science from St. John's University and a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice from Boston University. She is the chairwoman of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association Sports and Entertainment Law Section, and has participated in numerous initiatives to propel the fields of fashion, arts, media, sports, entertainment, and criminal justice in a new direction. Her passion for these industries is also evidenced by the many volunteer opportunities in which she has participated. Sources: https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-an-nft https://pagesix.com/2023/01/09/rihanna-drops-super-bowl-2023-themed-savage-x-fenty-merch/ https://identificationsystemsgroup.com/what-are-rfid-tags-and-how-are-they-used/ https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-cryptocurrency

At the end of December, reports began to surface that Kevin Warren was likely to leave his post as Big Ten Commissioner to become the next President/CEO of the Chicago Bears. Those reports were proven correct this past week, creating a vacancy for one of college sports most powerful positions. Where the Big Ten goes from here will undoubtedly have a drastic impact on the future of the college sports landscape. Will they hire someone from within the college athletics or higher education space? Will they take the same approach they did with Warren and look outside the industry? What role will the new hire have in addressing the issues college athletics currently faces? All these questions have massive significance. Say what you want about Kevin Warren’s three-year stint as commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, but one thing you can’t say is that it was uneventful. On one hand, he was heavily criticized for initially canceling the 2020 football season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other, he acquired USC and UCLA from the Pac-12, stretching the conference’s footprint from coast to coast. Additionally, he inked a transformative media rights deal with Fox, CBS, and NBC, placing the Big Ten ahead of the SEC financially. Warren undoubtedly had a clear vision for the Big Ten, but he won’t be around to execute it and see it through. That will be the responsibility of the next hire, which makes the conference’s search extremely important Now that the media rights deal has been signed, the new commissioner’s first task will be onboarding USC and UCLA into the league in the summer of 2024. This process will be a lot harder than it seems at the surface due to the extensive nature of the Big Ten’s footprint. How the conference handles scheduling with member schools on opposite coasts will be interesting to watch. The “student-athlete experience” is something many athletic administrators reiterate, so how the conference can maximize it amid the obvious challenges will be paramount. What will generate the most conversation around this hire, however, is the new commissioner’s stance on the overarching issues in college athletics. Over the course of Kevin Warren’s tenure in the commissioner’s office, we’ve seen the advent of NIL, the Transfer Portal, and booster-led collectives. In addition, the Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling in the Alston case opened the door for future litigation against the NCAA. Simply put, the Big Ten Commissioner job in 2023 is starkly different from what the Big Ten Commissioner job in 2020 was. Legally, the NCAA’s model built on amateurism appears to be in serious jeopardy. Between the NRLB’s recent memo to House v. NCAA to Johnson v. NCAA, the writing appears on the wall that things won’t be like they used to be in the foreseeable future. The big question now is: what can be done about it? We’ve heard many administrators plead with Congress to provide some form of antitrust protection and a Federal NIL law, but many are skeptical they will come. It’s worth noting that the NCAA recently hired former Massachusetts Governor, Charlie Baker, to take over as President. In reading the tea leaves, it’s clear his political experience played a role in the Association’s hiring process. So, the big question in the Big Ten Commissioner search is what kind of leader will the conference hire? One who is proactive and understands the inevitable reality? Or one who is beholden to the amateur model? The answer to this question likely won’t change the direction college sports are heading, but it will undoubtedly change how quickly we get there. Whether or not college athletes become full-fledged employees is unknown and will likely be determined in the courts. But one thing is clear, the amateur model where college athletes are receiving zero compensation directly from their schools or conferences appears to be on thin ice. Hopefully, the new Big Ten Commissioner recognizes this and has a strong vision for the future. It’s worth noting that the hire will be made by the member schools, so it’s really up to them to decide. At the end of the day, the Big Ten Commissioner role is one of (perhaps the most) powerful positions in all of college sports. But with great power comes great responsibility. It will be fascinating to see who ultimately gets the job. Brendan can be found on Twitter @_bbell5

According to various reports, Alabama Men’s Basketball player, Darius Miles and another man, Michael Lynn Davis have been charged with capital murder in connection with a shooting near the University of Alabama campus in the early hours of January 15, 2023. The root of the shooting appears to have been a minor argument between the alleged victims and the alleged suspects. However, what does capital murder actually mean in the state of Alabama? For a crime to be classified as capital murder, there has to be a special circumstance. In this case, the special circumstance is that the alleged victim was shot in a vehicle. According to Alabama Criminal Code Title 13A-5-40(17), it is a capital offense because it is “murder committed by or through the use of a deadly weapon while the victim is in the vehicle.” Additionally, if the alleged suspects fired the deadly weapon from within another vehicle, that would be a special circumstance capital as well. If convicted, Mr. Miles would be eligible for the death penalty. If the suspects were convicted of capital murder and the jury chose not to impose the death penalty, they would have to serve a minimum mandatory sentence of 30 years in prison day for day before they would be eligible for parole. The biggest question will be who was the shooter and was this potentially self-defense? As stated by the Captain Jack Kennedy, commander of the Tuscaloosa County’s Violent Crimes Unit, he didn’t say who investigators believe pulled the trigger, but he did say “both suspects are being charged because their actions led to the alleged victim’s death.” The alleged victim was the passenger in the vehicle, but the driver of the vehicle told officers, “The vehicle had been shot into and he (the driver) had fired back in self-defense.” These two pieces of evidence are potentially significant. First, as to who is the actual shooter. Both individuals can be charged with capital murder (usually an accessory/accomplice theory) but it sounds like only one of them shot at the vehicle. That is because whoever wasn’t the shooter probably doesn’t need to worry about getting the death penalty imposed if they were convicted of capital murder. A jury isn’t going to impose a death sentence for potentially someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The other key piece of evidence is that the alleged victim’s vehicle shot back. This is significant for the defense of Mr. Miles and Mr. Davis because now their defense attorneys can potentially argue a “who shot first defense”. That is because Alabama is a “Stand Your Ground” state which allows a Judge to grant absolute immunity to a defense if the Judge determines that the actions of self-defense were reasonable under the law. This case is a long way from trial. However, it is not far away from seeing the inside of the Courtroom. This article will be the first in a multi-part series. Matthew F. Tympanick, Esq. is the Founder/Principal of Tympanick Law, P.A., located in Sarasota, Florida where he focuses his practice on Criminal Defense, Personal Injury Law, and Sports Law. Arrested or Injured? Don’t Panic…Call Tympanick! 1(888)NOPANIC. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts School of Law where he served as a Public Interest Fellow and a Staff Editor on the UMass Law Review. He has appeared nationally on television, radio, and podcasts discussing criminal cases specifically sports criminal cases. He was previously a felony prosecutor where he prosecuted thousands of misdemeanor and felony criminal cases. He also has tried over 40 jury and non-jury cases. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @TympanickLaw

The sports world came to a sudden halt on the night of January 2, when Bills DB Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field shortly after a collision with Bengals WR Tee Higgins. Hamlin was treated with CPR on the field for nine minutes before being transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. The nation held its collective breath as Hamlin’s life hung in the balance. Over the next few days, Hamlin’s condition improved. Hamlin emerged from his coma on January 5 and was able to communicate to his doctors in writing. The doctors noted that some of the first words Hamlin wrote were “Did we win?” According to Sports Illustrated, Dr. Timothy Pritts responded by saying, “Yes Demar, you won…you won the game of life.” This news was applauded by the public, as Hamlin’s question, one of his first conscious communications after nearly losing his life, exhibited the selflessness that made Hamlin such a beloved teammate. According to TMZ, Hamlin applied for two trademarks on January 6 to own the phrases “Did We Win” and “Three [Hamlin’s number] is Back”. The United States Patent and Trademark Office records show that Hamlin intends to exhibit the phrases on “shirts, clothing jerseys, sweatshirts, hats, pants, shorts, and jackets”, along with “printed and downloadable posters, mugs, and ornamental novelty pins.” In fact, Hamlin has already created a “Did We Win” shirt, tweeting that the proceeds of the shirt will go to first responders and the University of Cincinnati Trauma Center. Hamlin has since been released from the hospital to continue his rehabilitation at home. Now, with the anticipated ownership of these trademarks, Hamlin can use his example as a means to give back to those who saved his life as well as the lives of others. Robert Ricigliano is a 2L student at New York Law School. Robert is passionate about all sports, particularly how they relate to athlete representation and intellectual property.

In 2022, the area of sports law experienced major developments across the country, many of which will continue their trajectory of change in the new year. Below, we summarize the most significant sports law events of 2022 and predict the areas we anticipate will continue to see development in 2023. NIL Rights A review of 2022 sports law would be incomplete without a discussion of name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights. The story that began with the U.S. Supreme Court's Alston decision in 2021 continued to see ripple effects in 2022, as student-athletes began to take advantage of the new rights that were offered to them to maximize their endorsement opportunities. An entire industry developed to support the new NIL landscape (e.g., companies like OpenDorse and INFLCR), the presence of collectives exploded on campuses across the country, and these rights were further extended and/or regulated with new state laws as well as the repeal of certain state NIL laws. The NCAA also failed to formalize its interim NIL policy, initially introduced in July 2021, even though it eventually issued additional limited guidance to universities and collectives regarding the treatment of student-athletes' NIL deals and peripheral issues. As may have been expected based on the organization’s response to Alston, the NCAA continued to abstain from issuing any detailed, unified approach to NIL across the country or enforcing any of its new guidance. It did, however, announce that President Mark Emmert, who has been at the helm of the NCAA since 2010, will step down in February 2023. Former two-term Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker will become NCAA President on March 1, 2023. Meanwhile, in the absence of NCAA regulation, states have continued to propose and enact laws with varying degrees of restrictiveness on student-athlete’s pursuit and entry of NIL deals at both the college and high school levels. Pay-for-Play With the changes sparked by the new NIL developments in college sports, 2022 also saw a renewed push to reclassify student-athletes as employees and to pay them for their participation in college athletics. This was demonstrated in several proposed state laws (e.g., in California and South Carolina), which attempted to legalize pay-for-play. It was also seen in the continued litigation of Johnson v. NCAA, which has now been appealed to the Third Circuit. But perhaps most notably, it was seen in the reiterated comments made by NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo that student-athletes are misclassified and should be reclassified as employees and be permitted to unionize, as well as the serving of a formal NLRB Complaint on USC, the PAC-12, and the NCAA alleging that the three entities are joint employers that have violated the National Labor Relations Act. College Transfer Portal The NCAA’s newly refined transfer portal rules deserve a mention here as well. In April 2021, the NCAA removed its former rule preventing most student-athletes seeking to transfer from playing for one year after matriculating to their new university. In 2022, the NCAA Division I Council tailored this new landscape even further to create specific windows of time during which students could enter the transfer portal. The result across both these changes, together with the developing post-NIL world, has been a shift towards a roster-building model and athlete marketplace more closely resembling the professional leagues. Major League Baseball New Collective Bargaining Agreement After an extended period of negotiation and a resulting three-month lockout, MLB team owners and the Players Association ultimately reached an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which took effect at the start of April 2022. The new agreement, which expires in five years, has increased minimum salaries, added a new pre-arbitration eligibility bonus pool for top-performing young players, raised competitive balance tax thresholds, introduced a universal designated hitter role for teams in both the National and American Leagues, expanded the draft lottery, implemented a system to clamp down on service-time manipulation, limited the number of times a player could be optioned within a season and expanded to a 12-team postseason format. The new CBA also created the Joint Competition Committee, which will be staffed with four active players, six members appointed by MLB, and an umpire, in order to adopt changes to playing rules beginning in 2023. The work of this committee has already resulted in the introduction of a pitch clock to limit the time between each pitch, a requirement to limit defensive shifts (which will require each team to have two infielders on either side of second base), and the introduction of larger bases to reduce the risk of injury to players. USWNT Soccer Settlement and New CBA The hard-fought, years-long battle for equal pay for the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) finally reached a resolution via a $22 million settlement in its class action lawsuit against U.S. Soccer and new CBAs for both the women’s and men’s national teams featuring equal compensation. This was a major coup for the women’s team and for the push, generally, for equal pay for women in all industries. Antitrust Litigation Antitrust law saw its fair share of activity in 2022. A number of LIV Golf players sued the PGA Tour for anti-competitive practices following the Tour’s suspension of the players for competing in LIV Golf events. The PGA Tour then countersued LIV Golf for its own allegedly anticompetitive behavior. In baseball, Congress (again) took an eye to the MLB antitrust exemption, demanding that the MLB explain why the exemption should continue. Four minor league teams, whose major league affiliations had been removed by the MLB, also appealed their antitrust action to the Second Circuit with a view toward eliminating the exemption. And in swimming, the International Swimming League v. World Aquatics (formerly, FINA) action came to a close with a summary judgment decision issued for the defense in the earliest days of 2023, finding no unreasonable restraint of trade and that competitors are not required to help one another compete with each other. Minor League Baseball Unionization Following years of efforts to join, minor league players finally became members of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). After the MLBPA obtained the support of over 50% of potentially eligible players, who executed union authorization cards designating the MLBPA as their bargaining representative, the NLRB confirmed the validity of the cards. Rather than the possibility of a protracted election period and an ultimate union election to be supervised by the NLRB, MLB acknowledged the voice of the minor league players and voluntarily recognized the MLBPA as the players’ representative. Minor leaguers will now begin the process of negotiating their first-ever CBA with MLB, which the parties hope to finalize before the start of the 2023 season. Toxic Workplaces and Ownership Accountability The handling of toxic workplace allegations and ownership accountability by the major professional leagues received a great deal of attention in 2022 in both the NBA and NFL. The NBA’s inquiry into allegations against Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury owner Robert Sarver culminated in a publicly released report prepared by the law firm retained by the NBA to conduct the investigation. The report corroborated many of the allegations made against Sarver, and he ultimately opted to sell his teams following the resulting pressure from players and sponsors. The Washington Commanders/Dan Snyder story has yet to resolve but certainly gained significant heat this year, as the Congressional Oversight Panel publicly released its report on its investigation into Snyder’s toxic workplace practices, federal charges were filed against Snyder for these practices, and even other NFL owners began to voice their interest in the forcible removal of Snyder from the League. While Snyder appears to now be exploring a potential voluntary sale of the team, there has been no information released yet as to whether he intends to actually sell his entire ownership interest or only a portion thereof, or the nature of any offers that have been submitted. Honorable Mentions Brian Flores - the former Dolphins coach’s lawsuit against the NFL and several of its teams for racial discrimination provided an eye into hiring practices and continued discriminatory behavior within the League; Deshaun Watson - Watson’s alleged misconduct was resolved with the NFL by way of settlement at a $5 million fine and 11-game suspension, offering the first practical example of the newly updated personal conduct policy as set forth in the 2020 CBA; FTX - the collapse of the cryptocurrency giant brought with it renewed scrutiny of celebrity endorsement liability, as a number of athletes (Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Naomi Osaka, and others) have been named defendants in a class action lawsuit; Pickleball - the meteoric rise of professional Pickleball saw major financial investment from world-class current and former athletes in all sports, including LeBron James, Tom Brady, Kevin Durant, Drew Brees, Kim Clijsters, Draymond Green, Naomi Osaka, Patrick Mahomes, and Rob Gronkowski, among others. What to Watch for in 2023 Pay-for-play and Johnson v. NCAA Revenue sharing and House v. NCAA The new NCAA era under new President Charlie Baker Potential power shift from NCAA to Conferences Any federal response to the NCAA’s punt to Congress and potential legislation (both state and federal) addressing the recent changes in college athletics LIV Golf Dan Snyder Minor League Baseball CBA The above article was originally published by Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith’s The Official Review on January 13, 2023. To view the post, please click here.

Roberto Clemente is known for his legendary career in Major League Baseball. 18 seasons as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates and a Hall of Famer. His name is one of the most recognizable in baseball, so when it is headlining a story, it’s imperative to dive into it. Case Citation and Parties of the Case: Citation: Clemente v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 233423 Plaintiffs: Roberto Clemente Jr. Family Agency LLC, its owners (Roberto Clemente Jr., Kimberly Dschuchan, Kailee Clemente), and a non-owner Ryan Norton Defendants: Allstate Insurance, Tomaino Insurance, and John Tomaino Background: Clemente’s son, Roberto Clemente Jr. is married to Kailee Clemente, and Kailee’s mother, Kimberly Dschuhan, was an insurance agent for Nationwide Insurance. While at Nationwide. Ms. Dschuhan wanted to buy a book of business from an existing agency that would allow her to open up an agency of her own; The Roberto Clemente Jr. Family Agency, LLC (hereinafter “Clemente Agency”). Ms. Dschuhan began negotiations with an Allstate agent, Daniel Cone. Mr. Cone wrote a letter of intent in which he agreed to sell his book of business [1] to the Clemente agency on the contingency that Allstate approved the transaction and the Clemente Agency became affiliated with Allstate. Allstate and the Clemente Agency had a myriad of issues along this process including “a constant moving of goalposts by Allstate” in regard to the opening of the agency, Allstate’s refusal to provide signage for the official name “Roberto Clemente Jr. Family Agency, LLC”. The plaintiffs also alleged friction between other Allstate agencies and the Clemente Agency as a result of the Clemente Agency having a close affiliation with “one of the most beloved Black athletes of all time” and therefore a competitive advantage with minority customers. As a result, Allstate terminated its agreement with the Clemente Agency “for fraud.” [2] Allstate alleges that the Clemente Agency's fraud was related to the practice of applying a widow discount to certain policies. The Clemente Agency denies these allegations and claims they relied on Mr. Tomaino when pertaining to widow discounts. Due to the breakdown of the relationship between Allstate and the Clemente Agency, the Clemente Agency attempted to sell their book of business, pending Allstate’s approval. After failing to find a buyer by the deadline, the Clemente Agency claimed that Allstate had made the sale impossible by blocking at least one potential sale. Complaint: That’s a lot of background, so what’s the complaint? The Plaintiffs filed a Charge of Discrimination [3] with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (hereinafter “EEOC”) alleging Allstate terminated the agreement and took other actions based on the racial minority ownership of the agency and the agency’s affiliation with a famous Afro-Hispanis baseball player. The EEOC dismissed the case as untimely filed and the Plaintiffs went to court for redress. Plaintiffs claim the Defendants violated 42 U.S. Code §1981: Equal rights under the law. Both Tomaino and Allstate filed a motion to dismiss under FRCP 12(b)(6) that the Plaintiffs failed to state a claim for relief. Legal Standard: The elements of a §1981 claim are that the plaintiff is a member of a protected class (race), there was intent to discriminate based on race, discrimination concerns the right to make and enforce contracts, and but-for causation. [4] There’s a lot of legalese when it comes to filing pleadings so I’m going to do my best to simplify it. For those interested, FRCP 12(b)(6) and FRCP 8 provide a more in-depth view of the process. A complaint must allege a plausible level that the defendant committed the alleged act and the plaintiff needs to allege facts that would raise “a reasonable expectation that discovery will uncover proof of her claims”. [5] Holding: The Court starts by denying Allstate's motion to dismiss and dismissing the §1981 claim against Tomaino, but the §1981 claim against Allstate is allowed. The Plaintiffs' 1981 claim is not time-barred and although Ms. Dschuhan, Ms. Clemente, and Mr. Norton are white they are not precluded from bringing a §1981 claim. [6] The court acknowledges that the Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged discrimination as to contractual rights relating to Allstate and that they have plausibly alleged causation. Final Result: The Court granted in part and denied in part Allstate’s Motion to Dismiss the discrimination claim and that the claim cannot include actions predating the contract. The Court dismissed the Plaintiff's claim that Allstate and Tomaino defrauded the Clemente Agency by misrepresenting discount techniques to prepare a reason to terminate the agreement. The Court dismissed the Plaintiffs’ conversion claim [7] that the Tomaino Agency unlawfully acquired policy from the book of business before the sale deadline. The Court dismissed the Plaintiff's claim that Allstate and Tomaino were unjustly enriched. [8]. The Court dismissed the claim that Tomaino interfered with the purchase of the book of business and the agreement between Allstate and the Clemente Agency, but did not dismiss the claim that Allstate interfered with the purchase of the book of business. The Court ordered that the Plaintiffs can file an amended complaint on or before January 11. I will update this article if/when that complaint is amended and the result. Evan Mattel is a 2L at Hofstra Law, Vice President of the Sports and Entertainment Law Society, and Representative for the New York State Bar Association's Entertainment and Sports Law Section. He is also the Chief Editor for the legal analysis section of Conduct Detrimental. He can be found at @Evan_Mattel21 on Twitter or on Linkedin. Footnotes: [1] A book of business is a list of clients [2] Allstate had the ability to terminate the agreement immediately after providing written notice for cause, which includes fraud. [3] A Charge of Discrimination is a form asserting that an organization engaged in employment discrimination [4] But-for causation is “but-for X, Y would have happened” [5]Connolly v. Lane Constr. Corp., 809 F.3d 780, 788-89 (3d Cir. 2016). [6] Being discriminated against because of association with someone of another race is protected by §1981. [7] Conversion happens when a person intentionally and without authority takes control over the property of another and obstructs their ability to posses it. [8] Unjust enrichment happens when a party receives a benefit without giving proper restitution required by law.

The NCAA’s Division I Council made several changes this week at the NCAA Convention. Among the most notable changes, the Division I Council voted to eliminate the voluntary coach allowed by NCAA Bylaw 11.02.06 and establish that sports, including baseball and softball, may have four paid coaches. The changes will begin on July 1. Prior to the changes, teams were only allowed three paid coaches but could have an additional volunteer assistant. The volunteer assistant could not receive compensation despite the volunteer assistant coach performing similar functions to other coaches’ less certain recruiting activities. Smart v. NCAA In November, two former volunteer baseball coaches filed a class action lawsuit against the NCAA, alleging that the NCAA violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by fixing the compensation for volunteer baseball coaches. The NCAA has lost in court on a similar issue before. In Law v. NCAA, the NCAA instituted a rule limiting the salary of Division I entry-level coaches. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling, finding that the NCAA’s rule had an anticompetitive effect due to the rule “lowering the price of coaching services.” With Law as precedent and the Supreme Court of the United States holding in NCAA v. Alston that NCAA rules are subject to antitrust scrutiny, the NCAA needed to alter the bylaws. While Smart may take years to play out as current/former volunteer coaches seek backpay, student-athletes, programs, and coaches will have a better future with the addition of a fourth paid coach. Landis Barber is an attorney at Safran Law Offices in Raleigh, North Carolina. You can connect with him via LinkedIn or via his blog offthecourtdocket.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Landisbarber.

Given how popular and seemingly larger-than-life most professional sports franchises are, we sometimes forget that these entities are still “companies” looking to make the most prudent business decisions available to them. While there is often more money involved, your favorite sports team operates under the same principles that your business does. As a finance major, my professors often say that when analyzing investments, it’s best not to just seek out the highest possible return, but the highest risk-adjusted return. How does this simple finance fundamental apply to Carlos Correa’s negotiations with a handful of MLB teams this offseason? Well, it explains why the former Rookie of the Year, All-Star, and World Series-winning shortstop went from being a Giant to a Met to a Twin over the course of about a month. After superstars like Aaron Judge, Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander, Trea Turner, and Xander Bogaerts all signed massive free agent contracts earlier this offseason, all signs pointed to Carlos Correa having a robust market being the last major impact player left on the board. That notion was initially validated when Correa agreed to a 13-year contract worth $350 million with the San Francisco Giants, one of the biggest deals in MLB history. However, on December 20th, Correa’s introductory press conference in San Francisco was postponed due to a holdup with his physical stemming from an injury Correa suffered before even debuting in the majors. Within a matter of hours, the Mets swooped in and offered 12 years and $315 million to Correa, which he quickly accepted. Before anything was official, Mets owner Steve Cohen claimed that the acquisition “puts us over the top.” You might be asking: what did the Giants see in Correa’s physical that the Mets didn’t? Well, the answer came on Christmas Eve when reports surfaced that the Mets did in fact have similar concerns. Cohen’s comments came before any Mets doctor was able to examine Correa. This led to nearly three weeks of back and forth between Correa, Scott Boras (Correa’s agent), the Mets, and eventually, the Twins. Why did this process take so long? It’s because when hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, things can get extremely complex. And that they did. When teams sign players to long-term contracts like Correa’s, they often acquire insurance to protect themselves if the player is unable to play due to an injury. However, these insurance policies contain exclusions regarding previous and or existing injuries (i.e. Correa’s ankle injury) that might wreak havoc on the player’s long-term health. For most free agents who sign shorter-term deals, this isn’t an issue. But when you’re talking about a deal spanning over a decade, teams want to protect themselves against risk as much as possible. If insurance won’t protect the teams, what can? In contrast to the NFL, most MLB free agent contracts are fully guaranteed. Once signed, a player is entitled to all the money that was agreed upon. Yes, there are usually performance bonuses that sometimes include playing time elements, but for the most part, star players like Correa usually have the leverage to secure a lot of guaranteed cash. However, as the last month has told us, sometimes it can get tricky. A recent example of this came in 2018 when J.D. Martinez signed with the Boston Red Sox. Coming off a monster 2017 season, Martinez was in line to cash in on a big-time deal. However, concerns over a foot injury he suffered early in the season somewhat hampered his market. Martinez still netted a nine-figure deal from Boston, but not without some drawbacks. The Red Sox, led by GM Dave Dombrowski at the time, negotiated their own means of walking away from the final two years of the contract in the event that Martinez’s foot proved to be a chronic condition. According to the contract, had Martinez spent 60 consecutive days on the injured list in the third year of the contract with an injury related to his prior foot injury, the fourth year could’ve been converted into a mutual option. Boston could’ve also converted the fourth year to a mutual option had Martinez missed 120 days between the second and third years of the deal pertaining to the prior Lisfranc issue. As it turned out, none of this came to pass as Martinez played out his Boston deal without any foot concerns. But from this, you can definitely see the detail and implications involved in these types of negotiations. That’s why the Correa situation took so long. You can bet lawyers from the Mets and Twins worked around the clock to try and include the most advantageous contract language possible to protect against the long-term risk of taking on Correa. Concurrently, Boras Corp sought to maximize the guarantees in the contract. What it likely came down to in the end goes back to a simple principle any finance major learns in school: The deal that was ultimately agreed upon offered the highest risk-adjusted return for both Correa’s camp and the Twins. Ultimately, the Twins were willing to offer more in guarantees and Correa saw fit to accept the deal. He can earn up to $270 million if he is able to stay healthy over the length of the contract, so he’ll be just fine despite not securing quite the bag he thought he would in San Francisco. Just like every company wants to mitigate risk and every investor seeks the highest risk-adjusted return, teams and players seek to do the same when it comes to the business and law of sports. Some may overlook this aspect of sports, but all of us at Conduct Detrimental, we’re fascinated by it! Brendan can be found on Twitter @_bbell5

The collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX sent shockwaves through the crypto world, with reverberations being felt across the many industries that invested in and used the exchange. Unfortunately for the Miami Heat, the sports industry was no exception, as on January 11, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled that the agreement between Miami-Dade County (the owners of the arena) and FTX has been terminated. Not even two years after the crypto-exchange pledged $135 million in a deal spread out over 19 years to the county, the naming rights for the Heat’s arena are once again up for negotiation[1]. The Heat were not the only sports organization to suffer from the implosion of FTX, as Major League Baseball was forced to do some damage control and remove the FTX sponsorship patch from the shirts of their umpires. In November, Commissioner Manfred said that it would be a “pretty good bet” that the league won’t have their employees don the FTX logo for the upcoming season[2]. MLB and FTX had agreed to a sponsorship deal in June of 2021, making FTX the league’s “official cryptocurrency exchange” and making history as the first non-athletic brand to adorn the shirts of MLB umpires. Along with these organizations, a number of professional athletes that served as brand ambassadors for the company were named in a class-action lawsuit filed in November[3]. Stars like Tom Brady, David Ortiz, Shohei Ohtani, Shaquille O’Neal, and Stephen Curry were all named in the suit, which claimed that the use of these “big names” gave the company an “aura of credibility” and drove American consumers to invest[4]. All of these athletes are generally liked among sports fans, and have had little-to-no controversies in their careers, but the collapse of FTX and their roles in promoting it could certainly shift some public opinion. Now, for the Miami Heat and for Miami-Dade County, a new arena sponsor is on the horizon. After the judge’s ruling to end the agreement, the stadium crews will remove all FTX branding from inside and outside the arena, leaving it “un-branded” as of the writing of this article. I’m curious to see what a temporary name would be, or if they already have a deal lined up to replace FTX, what the details of that deal would be. Considering the original deal with FTX in March of 2021 was supposed to pay $90 million of the total directly to the county, it is likely that the county will seek to match or exceed that mark in a new deal[5]. A new deal could be beneficial to Miami-Dade and the Heat however, as just a few months after FTX secured the rights to the Heat’s arena, another cryptocurrency exchange, Crypto.com, made a historic deal with the owners of the Lakers’ arena (AEG Worldwide) for $700 million over 20 years to rename Staples Center to Crypto.com Arena[6]. Although the arena where the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Los Angeles Kings play is undoubtedly a more valuable investment than the Heat’s arena, the county should nevertheless be able to get more than they did in their original FTX deal back in March of 2021. During this in-between phase for the naming rights to the arena, the county and the Heat are in uncharted territory. With the Heat welcoming fans to their arena this week for a back-to-back versus the Milwaukee Bucks, the arena owners will either need to secure a deal in record time, put up a temporary name for the stadium, or perhaps leave it un-sponsored for the remainder of the season while they search for a new partner. Regardless of the path the county takes, I’d be surprised if they agree to a deal with another cryptocurrency company. The risks associated with these companies and the extreme fallout from the collapse of FTX is not something that sports leagues or teams will want to have to concern themselves with. Even though such companies can provide lucrative deals, like the Crypto.com Arena deal, their long-term viability is unproven, and can leave organizations susceptible to unnecessary risks. Greg Moretto is a Pre-Law Student at Boston College ‘23. He is a member of the BC Sports Business Society E-Board. He can be found on Twitter @gregjmoretto. Sources: [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/goodbye-ftx-arena-miami-heat-stadium-ditches-crypto-sponsor-11673462807 [2] https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/17/mlb-commissioner-its-a-pretty-good-bet-ftx-patches-wont-be-on-umpires-next-season/ [3] https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/larry-david-tom-brady-shaq-ftx-class-action-lawsuit-1234632046/ [4] https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/larry-david-tom-brady-shaq-ftx-class-action-lawsuit-1234632046/ [5] https://www.thenextmiami.com/ftx-arena-getting-a-name-change-after-just-19-months/ [6] https://www.thenextmiami.com/ftx-arena-getting-a-name-change-after-just-19-months/

This past winter, many Americans began watching soccer for the first time in years or for the first time in their lives. This was because the United States men’s soccer team was back in the World Cup for the first time in 8 years. The World Cup has created thousands of new soccer fans across the globe and especially new fans in America. The expanding market of American soccer fans has, in turn, helped Major League Soccer grow its own fan base too. This growth of new fans has led to expansion teams, new stadiums, and higher-skilled players coming to America. The past three MLS seasons have led to record high transfer fees and salaries that the league has never seen before. But, with all this new success, how does the MLS compare to larger and established leagues like the English Premier League? For starters, there is a serious difference in value when comparing the most expensive and least expensive teams’ annual salaries in each respective league. The most expensive annual salary of any team in the MLS is Toronto FC with an annual salary of over $33,241,969, while the top team in the Premier League, Manchester City, has an annual salary of $211,645,000. The lowest annual salary in the Premier League is Brentford, with an annual salary of $31,636,000. Only Toronto FC has a higher salary than Brentford and the lowest annual salary in the MLS is the newly created team Minnesota United FC is $10,284,693. The large wealth disparity between the Premier League and the MLS is a major issue when MLS teams are looking to acquire high-level talent when English Premier teams can offer double or triple the salary you are offering. Upcoming stars looking to continue their high level of play and be properly compensated for their skill will look at other stars around the world, what league they play in, and how much they are getting paid. The English Premier League’s highest player annual salary is the newly signed Erling Haaland, which Manchester City is currently paying an annual salary of $20,800,000. Haaland’s salary alone is more money than all but two MLS teams' entire annual salary. When upcoming stars see that they can earn a salary in the same ballpark as Haaland’s earnings, it is hard for MLS teams to convince a player to earn less money to come to play in America. The Premier League does not have a salary cap and allows owners to shell out millions of dollars to make sure they put out the best possible players and overall game. The MLS can bridge the gap in popularity if they can convince potential owners to invest in world-class players in order to become a top league in the world. Evan Lautato, 1L at St. John’s University of Law School, 1L Representative for the Entertainment and Sports Law Society, www.linkedin.com/in/evan-lautato-a4bb14178 Citations: https://www.spotrac.com/epl/payroll/ https://www.spotrac.com/epl/rankings/ https://www.spotrac.com/mls/cap/2022