In February, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) disqualified Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych from the Milan Cortina Olympics for refusing to change his helmet honoring athletes who had died during...more
4/9/2026
/ Athletes ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Policies ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
International Olympic Committee (IOC) ,
Military Conflict ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Olympics ,
Political Speech ,
Russia ,
Sports ,
State Labor Laws ,
Ukraine
Last month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched an inquiry into sports agent compliance with the Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act (SPARTA), a federal law aimed at protecting student athletes from deceptive...more
2/25/2026
/ Agents ,
Colleges ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Student Athletes ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Universities
It’s that time of year again—Ad Law Symposium is back!
Please join us in DC for this highly anticipated event focused on providing you with the information you need to promote your brand with confidence. Combining the...more
2/16/2026
/ Advertising ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Athletes ,
C-Suite Executives ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Product Companies ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Contests & Promotions ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Events ,
False Advertising ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fees ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legal Ethics ,
Marketing ,
NCAA ,
Pricing ,
Risk Management ,
Sweepstakes
As the U.S. sports industry continues to evolve at a rapid pace, 2026 is a pivotal year for legal and regulatory change. From federal Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) legislation and AI-driven intellectual property risks to...more
1/27/2026
/ Arenas and Stadiums ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Drones ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Real Estate Development ,
Sports Betting ,
Student Athletes ,
Unions ,
Zoning Laws
In a victory for employers, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently held that retention bonuses are not considered wages under the Massachusetts Wage Act and are not required to be paid to employees on the...more
12/4/2025
/ Bonuses ,
Employee Incentive Plans ,
Employee Retention ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
MA Supreme Judicial Court ,
Penalties ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wages
Welcome to Chalk Talk, your legal playbook for the ever-evolving sports industry. Each month, our Sports Law team will draw up the X's and O's behind the legal, policy, and regulatory issues impacting your business. We'll...more
9/16/2025
/ Alston v NCAA ,
College Athletes ,
Colleges ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Terms ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws ,
Student Athletes ,
Transfers ,
Universities
Just days after the University of Pennsylvania's settlement with the federal government, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases involving state transgender athlete bans of girls and women competing in school sports...more
8/8/2025
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Equal Protection ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Gender Identity ,
LGBTQ ,
Little v Hecox ,
School Sports ,
SCOTUS ,
State Bans ,
Student Athletes ,
Title IX ,
Transgender ,
United States v Skrmetti ,
West Virginia v BPJ ,
Women in Sports
In early July, the University of Pennsylvania said it had reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Education, resolving a federal investigation into Title IX violations based on transgender athlete participation in...more
7/24/2025
/ Department of Education ,
Gender Identity ,
SCOTUS ,
Settlement ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sports ,
Student Athletes ,
Title IX ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration ,
Universities
For anyone who thought an unprecedented $2.8 billion settlement agreement actually resolved one of the many murky issues of student-athlete compensation in college athletics —not so fast. On June 6, federal Judge Claudia...more
7/15/2025
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Appeals ,
Class Action ,
College Athletes ,
Compensation ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
Settlement ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Student Athletes ,
Title IX ,
Title IX Coordinator
Last month, the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Education (ED) announced the creation of a joint Special Investigations Team (SIT) to streamline Title IX investigations....more
5/2/2025
/ Department of Education ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Executive Orders ,
Gender Identity ,
Government Investigations ,
Investigations ,
Risk Management ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration ,
Universities
On August 20, 2023, the Spanish national football team won the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time in history. As star forward Jenni Hermoso received her medal in front of thousands of fans, Luis Rubiales, then...more
4/16/2025
/ Athletes ,
Code of Conduct ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) ,
Labor Relations ,
Risk Management ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Spain ,
Sports ,
Unions ,
Workplace Safety
On February 5, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) that aims to ban transgender women from participating in women's and girls' sports. This is the fourth order concerning transgender people that Trump has signed...more
2/11/2025
/ Athletes ,
College Athletes ,
Department of Education ,
Equal Protection ,
Executive Orders ,
Gender Identity ,
LGBTQ ,
NCAA ,
Student Athletes ,
Title IX ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration
As previously reported here, on July 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (the Third Circuit) ruled that collegiate student athletes could theoretically be considered employees of their respective...more
On December 18, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) once again found itself on the losing end of a federal court opinion that could alter the landscape of collegiate athletics....more
We previously reported that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) heard a complaint earlier this year against the NCAA, the University of Southern California, and the Pac-12 Conference for failing to classify student...more
1/15/2025
/ Administrative Procedure ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Employment Litigation ,
Joint Employers ,
Misclassification ,
NCAA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
University of Southern California (USC)
This past April, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a rule (Rule) that amounted to a near total nationwide ban on employers’ use of non-compete agreements. Since its announcement, employers have actively attempted to...more
8/26/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Chevron Deference ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Pending Litigation ,
Popular ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Statutory Authority ,
Unfair Competition
U.S. college athletes may soon be considered employees entitled to minimum wage under federal law. In a recent decision, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that college athletes could theoretically be considered...more
7/17/2024
/ College Athletes ,
Colleges ,
Compensation ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Wage ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Right to Control ,
Universities
In Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney, 602 U.S. ____ (2024) (hereafter, "Starbucks"), the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) recently resolved a circuit split to clarify that if the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) seeks a...more
The ball keeps rolling on potentially big compensation for college athletes. In a landmark proposed settlement (Settlement), the National College Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten...more
6/7/2024
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Class Action ,
College Athletes ,
Colleges ,
Compensation ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
NCAA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Revenue Sharing ,
Settlement ,
State Labor Laws ,
Student Athletes ,
Universities
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
Employers are confronting yet another expansion of what constitutes protected employee concerted activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). As employers well know, Section 7 guarantees employees "the...more
On June 29, 2023, in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the Supreme Court drastically altered college admissions by ruling that affirmative action admissions practices violated the Equal Protection Clause of the...more
7/10/2023
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
College Admissions ,
Colleges ,
Diversity ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Protection ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Race Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Title VI ,
Universities
We previously reported on General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo's announcement of the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) gameplan to treat certain student athletes at private colleges and universities (together, "Academic...more
6/5/2023
/ Colleges ,
Employee Definition ,
Employee Rights ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Misclassification ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Student Athletes ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Universities ,
University of Southern California (USC) ,
Wage and Hour
On April 20, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB" or the "Board") issued a decision in Noah's Ark Processors, LLC d/b/a WR Reserve, 372 NLRB No. 80 (2023) in which it announced a non-exhaustive list of remedies...more
5/19/2023
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Remedies ,
Bad Faith ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Labor Law Violations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Repeat Violations ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
As we previously discussed, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed a rule that, if enacted, would result in a nearly complete nationwide ban on employers' use of non-compete agreements. The rule has passed through...more