The Law Library has several books devoted to sports law. These are great resources to utilize when picking a topic or starting your research.
Below are selected books that provide a general overview of sports law.
Entertainment Law in a Nutshell by
This compact reference gives a big picture overview of the intellectual property, contract, publicity, estate planning, and First Amendment issues that contribute to the field of entertainment law. Professor Burr also addresses specific legal issues that arise in the film, music, and television industries, including discussion of the rise of "reality" television. This Nutshell is ideal as a secondary text to accompany any entertainment law casebook, as the primary text for a seminar, or as background information for someone requiring an overview. Winner! Best Business Book - 2017 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards
Sports Law by
Sports Law looks at major court cases, statutes, and regulations that explore a variety of legal issues in the sports industry. The early chapters provide an overview of sports law in general terms and explore its impact on race, politics, religion, and everyday affairs. Later chapters address hot button issues such as gender equity, drug testing, and discrimination. Written from a sport management perspective, rather than from a lawyer's, this text covers all the major areas presented in sports law today including: cases relating to torts, contracts, intellectual property, and agents. Factual scenarios throughout the text allow students to critically examine and apply sport management principles to legal issues facing the sports executive.
Sports Justice by
Americans, brought up playing or watching sports, absorb the notions of fair play not simply as integral themes of sportsmanship on the field, but also as values they try to carry into their everyday lives. In this accessible and fascinating look at law and sports, Roger I. Abrams shines the lights on the uniquely complex and important legal issues that face both amateur and professional athletes. From cases involving Title IX, transgendered athletes, rights of the disabled, violence on the playing field, individual and franchise free-agency, amateurism and college sports, and responsibility of leagues for the safety and lifelong health of injured players, Abrams weaves a profoundly moving and immediately relevant story of ever broadening access to, and expanding rights within, the field of sports.Abrams illuminates these legal cases through compelling storytelling and personal explorations of those involved, such as Jeremy Bloom, the world champion mogul skier who was barred from playing college football because he had modeled clothes for Tommy Hilfiger, and Casey Martin, Renee Richards, and the young gymnasts from Brown University who sought access to the sports they loved, but found that their quest to achieve justice required judicial intervention. There is also one non-athlete: Al Davis, the renegade owner of the Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, who beat the National Football League cartel using the antitrust laws in his effort to gain the respect he was always denied.Written for sports fans and legal scholars alike, this is an engrossing and surprising story of people battling for their careers and lives, and in the process changing the very nature of sports and society.
Essentials of Sports Law by
In this thoroughly revised Fourth Edition, Glenn Wong provides a comprehensive review of the various sports law issues facing professional, intercollegiate, Olympic, high school, youth, and adult recreational sports. Major topics include tort liability, contracts/waivers, antitrust law, labor law, constitutional law, gender discrimination, drug testing, intellectual property law, broadcasting laws pertaining to sports agents, business and employment law, Internet gambling, and athletes with disabilities. Significant additions here include new court decisions, agreements (contracts and collective bargaining agreements), and legislation (federal, state, association, and institutional rules and regulations). Discussions of legal concepts are supplemented with summaries and excerpts from hundreds of actual sports cases. Wong cites a variety of books, law review articles, newspaper articles, and Web links for those requiring further information on particular topics. This text-professional guide serves as an invaluable resource to those involved, or studying to become involved, in the vast industry of sports. Significant additions to this edition include new court decisions, contracts and collective bargaining agreements, and federal, state, association, and institutional rules and regulations.
Legal Concepts in Sport by
This book will give you a conceptual foundation for understanding the law and its relationship to sport and physical education programs. It attempts to place the kinds of legal problems faced in the day-to-day operations of a physical education or athletic/sport program into commonsense perspective that is easily understood and remembered. It is not intended to teach all there is to know about the law, but instead to serve as an introduction to the areas of law that most often have an impact on administrators, teachers, and coaches.
The Business of Sports Agents by
Successful sports agents are comfortable with high finance and intense competition for the right to represent talented players, and the most respected agents are those who can deal with the pressures of high-stakes negotiations in an honest fashion. But whereas rules and penalties govern the playing field, there are far fewer restrictions on agents. In The Business of Sports Agents, Kenneth L. Shropshire, Timothy Davis, and N. Jeremi Duru, experts in the fields of sports business and law, examine the history of the sports agent business and the rules and laws developed to regulate the profession. They also consider recommendations for reform, including uniform laws that would apply to all agents, redefining amateurism in college sports, and stiffening requirements for licensing agents. This revised and expanded third edition brings the volume up to date on recent changes in the industry, including: --the emergence and dominance of companies such as Creative Artists Agency and Wasserman Media Group --high-profile cases of agent misconduct, principally Josh Luchs, whose agent certification was revoked by the NFLPA --legal challenges against the NCAA that may fundamentally change the definition of amateurism --changes to agent regulations resulting from new collective bargaining agreements in all of the major professional sports --evaluation of the effectiveness of the Uniform Athlete Agents Act (2000) to regulate agent conduct --issues faced by the increasing number of agents representing athletes who work abroad as well as athletes from abroad who work in the United States. Whether aspiring sports agent, lawyer, athlete seeking an agent, or simply interested in understanding the world of sports representation, the reader will find in The Business of Sports Agents the most comprehensive overview of the industry as well as a straightforward analysis of its problems and proposed solutions.
Getting in the Game by
In this first legal analysis of Title IX, Deborah L. Brake assesses the statute's successes and failures, using a feminist theory lens to understand, defend, and critique the law. While the statute has created tremendous gains for female athletes, not only raising the visibility and cultural acceptance of women in sports, but also creating social bonds for women, positive body images, and leadership roles, the disparities in funding between men's and women's sports have remained remarkably resilient. At the same time, female athletes continue to receive less prestige and support than their male counterparts, which in turn filters into the arena of professional sports. Brake provides a richer understanding and appreciation of what Title IX has accomplished, while taking a critical look at the places where the law has fallen short. A unique contribution to the literature on Title IX, Getting in the Game fully explores the theory, policy choices, and successes and limitations of this historic law.
Equal Play by
One of the least-understood issues in federal sports policy, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 reflects the nation's aspirational belief that girls and boys, women and men, deserve equal educational opportunities in athletics. Equal Play shows how this ideal has been implemented-and thwarted-by actions in every branch of the federal government. This reader addresses issues in sports before Title IX and the backlash that has resulted from the policy being instituted. The editors have collected the best scholarly writing on the landmark events of the last four decades and couples these with new original essays, primary documents from court cases, administrative regulations, and relevant supporting sources. The result is the most comprehensive single-volume work on the subject. Equal Play includes essays by many well-known sports journalists who discuss how government actions have shaped, supported, and hindered the goal of gender equality in school athletics. They discuss the history of women in sports, analyze the meaning of "equal opportunity" for female athletes, and examine shifts in arguments for and against Title IX. Equal Play will interest anyone who is concerned with gender issues in American athletics and the growth of college sports. Contributors include: Susan Cahn, Donna de Varona, Julie Foudy, Jessica Gavora, Bil Gilbert, Christine Grant, Mariah Burton Nelson, Gary R. Roberts, Don Sabo, Larry Schwartz, Michael Sokolove, Welch Suggs, Nancy Williamson, and the editors.
You can access the following sports law treatises through Westlaw and LexisNexis.
American Law Reports provides researchers with in-depth analysis of unique, controversial, or unsettled areas of the law. American Law Reports includes several annotations related to sports law, antitrust, and contracts.
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This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new windowThe Congressional Research Service (CRS) serves the Congress throughout the legislative process by providing comprehensive and reliable legislative research and analysis that are timely, objective, authoritative, and confidential, thereby contributing to an informed national legislature.
Law students can search for CRS reports using ProQuest Congressional, which is located on the Law Library Database List. After entering ProQuest Congressional, click on "Advanced Search" located in the left navigation and then unselect everything under "Limit to" except "CRS Reports." This will enable you to search for only CRS reports.
Below are few CRS Reports on topics to sports (If using off-campus, must access ProQuest Congressional through the Law Library Database List and log-in using MyLaw ID and password before these links will work):
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) serves the Congress throughout the legislative process by providing comprehensive and reliable legislative research and analysis that are timely, objective, authoritative, and confidential, thereby contributing to an informed national legislature.
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