Assignment Prompt & Instructions
Book: Sport, Physical Activity, and the Law
Neil J. Dougherty; Alan S. Goldberger; Linda
Chapter 9 discusses Labor Law and Antitrust. After having read the chapter, discuss why you think professional sport has such a long, intertwined history of labor law and antitrust challenges/fights? What is about sports (e.g., MLB, NFL) that seems to welcome so many Labor-related problems.
Continuing from your answer above, briefly discuss one example of labor contention you are aware of in professional sports.
Should MLB enjoy an exclusive partial exemption to Antitrust Law? Why or why not (p.176-177)?
Pgs 176-177. The Appellate Court of Illinois cited a litany of case law to the effect that the non-inter-ference rule should be applied where the association is proceeding in accordance with rules so long as it is exercising its power consistently within those rules and the member is treated in a fundamentally fair fashion. Then, while noting exceptions to the rule of non-interference for fraud, collusion, and arbitrariness or some property or economic right that implicates due process, Justice Cahill, writing for a three-judge panel, waxed philosophical as he vacated the injunction, thus ending the lawsuit brought by the 12-year-old plaintiff and his parents:
We are aware of the elaborate and minutely governed structures that have evolved to oversee everything from preschool soccer leagues to the international monolith that is Little League baseball. Judges who recall summer pick-up games on the prairie with a lopsided ball wrapped in black friction tape and winter hockey matches with a stone for a puck on a frozen sani-tary canal are probably the wrong people to exercise judicial restraint in a case such as this. The quarrels that erupt in an era when every aspect of a childhood game is encrusted with a bureaucratic rule written by an adult seem ripe for judicial intervention.
The temptation to intervene, to scold and then sermonize on the joys of childhood, with dark reference to adults who spoil the fun, is strong. It swirls up from a desire to revisit the prairie and the canal. The irony is that the same desire motivates those who volunteer to coach Little League and to form amateur hockey leagues. (Lee v. Snyder)
CHAPTER SUMMARY Governing bodies derive their authority in one or both of two ways:
1. With the consent of members of the governing body with the tacit or express imprimatur of government. (Members may be institutional, as in the case of the University of Las Vegas at Nevada’s membership in the NCAA, or individual, such as the membership of Michelle Kwan in The United States Figure Skating Association.)
2. From an enactment of a state legislature or an act of Congress, the most notable example being the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, which vested authority in the U.S. Olympic
The Role of Governing Bodies
Committee and which in turn vested authority in sport-specific national governing bodies whose authority is clearly established by the act.
Litigation frequently arises when 1.
Individual members of an organization challenge a rule or enforcement proceeding taken against them by their own organizations, either on the ground of deprivation of their legal constitutional rights, or on the ground that their organizations did not follow their own rules in imposing a sanction or penalty.
2. 3.
Individuals challenge rulings or actions of their associations that are mandated by their as-sociations’ memberships in a larger association.
Individual student-athletes enrolled in educational institutions challenge decisions of governing bodies of which their schools or colleges are members.
Although each of these situations presents a different fact pattern, a common issue to all such litigation is the origin of the body’s authority and the proper and lawful exercise of that authority. These, then, are the primary questions at the threshold of virtually all court chal-lenges to the authority of governing bodies in sport. Whatever the reasons, it is abundantly clear that today’s administrators, athletic direc-tors, and coaches cannot afford to ignore the increasing interaction of our legal system with the bodies that govern sport. Populations participating in sport and athletic programs are clearly more cognizant of their legal rights and are less content to follow, without challenge, the authority of coaches, administrations, and governing bodies. In addition, the universally acknowledged ascension of sports into big business precipitates more, not less, government intervention and corresponding interaction with the legal system. Therefore, as a matter of economics and good management, athletic administrators today simply must be aware of the legal consequences of their actions and those of their staffs. The natural consequence of government intervention, the increased susceptibility to liti-gation, and the ever-increasing complexity of association, conference, and subgroup affiliations is the possibility of conflict, power struggles, and political maneuvering that require admin-istrators to be fully aware of their legal environments. Finally, the legislative process that has witnessed the proliferation of statutes, the purpose of which is to redress perceived wrongs and allow everyone to participate, has landed full force in the sports arena. The athletic administra-tor must now be prepared to deal with the legal rights and responsibilities of an ever-increasing superstructure of governing bodies, organizations, chapter groups, sport-specific and special interest spin-offs, and their progeny.
KEY TERMS By-laws
Compelling state interest Contract Fundamental rights International amateur athletic competition National governing bodies
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