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NCAA Football: Why the Big Guys Pay Their Little Brothers to Play

There is no question as to why the University of Michigan or the University of Alabama would pay an Appalachian State University or a University of Buffalo to come to their stadium and play a good ol’ game of football – another win, more profits, and no “home and home.”[1] But what incentives does this

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Jay-Z’s Entry Into the Sports Agent Ring

Shawn Carter, popularly known as Jay-Z, is considered one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time, having won seventeen Grammy Awards and placed three albums on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. [1] He is also a man of tremendous business acumen, with a net worth of almost $500

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A Frontier Tort White Paper: Concussions in the NFL

Editor’s Note: While this blog is normally dedicated to analyzing legal issues in the field of sports and entertainment, this post departs from that to spotlight some excellent work done by 1Ls at Harvard Law School. At HLS in fall 2012, the eighty students in Section Six participated in an experimental group project in their

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The Future of the NFL Faced by Concussion Lawsuits

Last month, the NFL Competition Committee passed another rule restricting the use of helmets as a point of contact during games.  The decision was met with a customary (read: excessive) amount of vitriol by fans and players.  Many fans seem to think that the NFL is irrationally rushing to protect players out of a fear

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Sports Symposium Investigates the Evolving Fan Experience

On March 28, the Harvard Law School Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law hosted its annual Sports Symposium.  Sports industry leaders gathered at Wasserstein Hall to discuss the various legal challenges presented by the ever-changing experience of sports fans.  As always, CSEL put on a terrific event that drew a number of distinguished speakers, with

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Does a Ban on Mixed Martial Arts Competitions Violate the First Amendment?

Within the past two decades, the sport of mixed martial arts (“MMA”) has seen a drastic increase in public acceptance and interest.  Today there are forty-six states that sanction and regulate MMA competitions.  MMA events promoted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s premiere MMA promoter, consistently sell out the world’s largest arenas.  Broadcasts of

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First-Sale Doctrine in Digital Markets

Copyrights are different from other property rights: There is nothing intuitive or inalienable about them. They are not meant to retain all benefits for a single owner, but rather to act as temporary valves as the benefits of ownership flow from one to many, from the private to ultimately the public. The first-sale doctrine is

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