Honored to speak with MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark at 'Player Unionization: History in the Making' next Monday at 7:30 pm at Dartmouth College. Sponsored by Departments of History and African and African American Studies. Open to public. If you're around, please join us!

New Inside ND Sports podcast: Michael McCann on current legal battles with biggest impact on college athletics, NCAA's push to allow schools to make direct NIL payments to athletes, if the NCAA's role moving forward is sustainable and more. Eric Hansen
soundcloud.com/insidendsports…

I'm not old enough to remember O.J. Simpson as an elite player but I remember him as a criminal and civil defendant and like everyone else, watched the slow-speed chase and the trial and the verdict. I write about his legacy in the American legal system: sportico.com/law/analysis/2….

Ippei Mizuhara being charged is a good development for Shohei Ohtani, since it corroborates his story. But the legal process could take a long time, especially if Mizuhara fights the charges & blames others. We're closer to the beginning than to the end. sportico.com/law/analysis/2….

The federal antitrust litigation involving ESPN and Fubo is heating up in a case where the role of competition for live sports programing and available choices and prices for sports fans are at the heart of the matter: sportico.com/law/analysis/2….

More details here on NBA commissioner Adam Silver saying that the disputed Minnesota Timberwolves deal might prompt the league to rethink what types of deals
it approves moving forward 👇
sportico.com/business/team-…

Shohei Ohtani could be cleared by an Ippei Mizuhara guilty plea, but the feds will need to be convinced Mizuhara is not a fall guy and that his story makes sense. That could spark questions about evidence and testimony. I discuss in a new article tonight: sportico.com/law/analysis/2….

It didn't seem believable Ohtani wouldn't be aware that many millions of dollars went missing from his bank account, but this accounts suggests Mizuhara knew how to disable bank alert settings so Ohtani wouldn't be alerted. Let's wait to see if evidence & testimony support that.

Material Change in Olympic Compensation 👇

Olympic Track and Field Athletes Who Win Gold in Paris Will Be Paid:

sportico.com/business/finan… via @sportico Eben Novy-Williams

#SportsBiz | #Olympics

There's nothing like multiple sports leagues competing for the same athletes to boost those athletes' earning power.

'Talor Gooch has earned $39.5 million over the past 12 months on the LIV Golf tour, more than any other player in the world.'

sportico.com/personalities/….

The IRS will get its share.

FIFA and Relevent Sports Group reach a settlement in a multiyear antitrust battle over access by international teams to the U.S. market. Eben Novy-Williams and I explain what this means for the soccer industry: sportico.com/law/analysis/2….

NEW: The small-budgeted NAIA may be tempting an expensive and protracted court battle with its ban on trans athletes competing in all but two women's sports.

Michael McCann (mostly) and I weigh in:

sportico.com/law/analysis/2…

In 2019, I signed a contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

5 years later, I haven't played in a single MLB game.

Here's how the Minor Leagues work (and what it's like to be one):

The NAIA moves to ban transgender athletes from women's sports. Will we see that ban challenged in court? Some insights connecting the new ban to a wider dispute in athletics that could eventually land at the U.S. Supreme Court: sportico.com/law/analysis/2….

Sportico with best snapshot of today’s NIL:

- direct payments are basically here
- schools work with collectives to target the right players to give the most $$ to
- “NIL activities” you see is just a public cover-up for their direct payment

(h/t Michael McCann)

The idea that NIL collectives could be tax-exempt nonprofits never seemed to make sense since they operate for a nonexempt purpose: helping colleges land recruits via NIL deals. Daniel Libit reports the IRS has now denied an NIL collective exempt status: sportico.com/leagues/colleg….

Great, great read and work by my main man Michael McCann #LFG

One way or another in the near future, colleges will be able to make direct NIL payments to athletes. That will have major ramifications for the usual NCAA legal defenses used in antitrust cases and for the classification of college athletes as employees: sportico.com/law/analysis/2….

📣I hope parents and future potential college student-athletes take notice of these states that push these agendas.👇🏿🙏🏿