The Labor Law Insider—Dartmouth Men's Basketball Team Unionizes: Air Ball or Nothing But Net?
Inside the NBA with Suzanne Spellacy, General Counsel of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota Lynx and T-Wolves Gaming
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The Briefing by the IP Law Blog: March Madness Marketing Rebounds With a New Twist
The Briefing by the IP Law Blog: Naming Rights for LA Clippers Dome: FinTech Steps Intuit
Talking with a Time Magazine Female Sports Pioneer Ann Meyers Drysdale, Vice President of the Phoenix Suns & Mercury: On Record PR
The ongoing battle to turn NCAA student-athletes into employees continued this week. As reported here early this year, in February, Laura Sacks, Regional Director of Region 1 of the National Labor Relations Board, issued a...more
As March Madness officially begins in college basketball, it seems like the perfect opportunity to discuss the recent unionization buzz amongst college basketball athletes. Background College athletes have attempted to...more
In September 2023, fifteen members of Dartmouth College’s varsity men’s basketball team sought to join Service Employees International Union, Local 560 (“Union”), which is the “exclusive representative” of Dartmouth...more
On March 5, 2024, players on the Dartmouth College men’s basketball team voted to unionize, making the group the first college sports team to do so in the United States. Dartmouth College has already filed an appeal with the...more
Having introduced the cast and set the scene in part 1 of this 3-part series, we turn now to the details. But before doing so, let’s get one thing out of the way – you likely won’t have unionized players on campus...more
UPDATE: The men's basketball team at Dartmouth voted Tuesday, March 5, to unionize – a first in college sports history. We wrote about the labor decision that led to Tuesday's union vote, as well as takeaways for private...more
In what may be a game-changer for many college athletics programs, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional official ruled on February 12 that members of the Dartmouth College men’s basketball team are employees of...more
It wasn’t cash, an NIL deal, or even an athletic scholarship, but it was compensation according to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 1 Director, Laura Sacks. By providing its men’s basketball team with apparel,...more
For years now, the tide of college athletics has been shifting toward student-athlete representation and empowerment. Now, in what might become a landmark decision, a regional director for the National Labor Relations Board...more
This week, the regional director for Region 1 of the National Labor Relations Board issued an opinion that could usher in a wave of unionization efforts among college athletes. Fifteen members of the Dartmouth men’s...more
On February 5, 2024, a regional director for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Boston ruled that men’s college basketball players at Dartmouth College are “employees” within the meaning of the National Labor...more
On February 5, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Director Laura Sacks ordered a representation election to be held to determine if the Dartmouth University Men’s Basketball team will be represented by the Service...more
Reviewing the Major Plays of 2023 - This past year saw major developments in the world of college sports. From challenges to name, image and likeness (NIL) contracts to congressional hearings to proposed NCAA guidelines,...more
A nascent “advocacy” group just opened the first front in the newest battle over the status of collegiate student-athletes under the National Labor Relations Act. The College Basketball Players Association filed a one-line...more
Unable to find a student-athlete willing to file an unfair labor practice charge to support the effort of the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to reclassify student-athletes as “employees” as...more
In United States v. Gatto, the Second Circuit (Lynch, Chin, and Engelmayer, sitting by designation) issued a decision on January 15, 2021 affirming the wire-fraud convictions of James Gatto, Merl Code, and Christian Dawkins...more
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Gillian Berger, et al. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, et al, 16-1558 (7th Cir. 2016) has affirmed a district court's decision that...more
The recent federal appellate decision in O'Bannon v. NCAA may have profound implications for colleges obligated to ensure gender equity in athletics under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX). In the...more
In a partial victory for the NCAA, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned in part a permanent injunction issued by the District Court for the Northern District of California, which had required the NCAA to allow...more