Sports Law

THE OLYMPIC CREED

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part. Just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.

– Baron Pierre de Coubertin / Founder of the modern Games in Greece, l896

SPORTS LAW EXPERTISE

Sports Lawyers International PLLC is a referral and cooperative network among sports lawyers and others to help provide guidance and representation for student-athletes like Noriana, who seek to ascertain their legal rights and how to enforce them in an appropriate manner.

As a founding board member of the Florida Bar’s Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section when Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Sports, in 1987 Mr. Tarone organized the Section’s first symposia focused on the regulatory frameworks of amateur and professional sports. He has published several articles about amateurism and preserving eligibility. For a decade he was a manager or agent of a dozen professional women golfers on the LPGA tour. He lectures on sports law and attends sports law symposia at Harvard and other forums to stay current on sports-related issues.

Among Mr. Tarone’s sports law publications are: “Advising the Amateur Athlete to Preserve Eligibility,” published in The Florida Bar Journal, Volume 62, Number 2 at 23 (1988) and reprinted in adapted form as “Amateur Athletes and Eligibility” in Case & Comment, Volume 93, Number 3 at 3 (1988) and in The Sports, Parks & Recreation Law Reporter, Volume 2 Number 4 at 60 (1989); and “Florida Athlete Agent Registration Law” in The Sports, Parks & Recreation Law Reporter, Volume 3, Number 3 at 47 (1989). For more than three decades now, Mr. Tarone has been developing an outline called Sports Law World that is in this section of this website as a guide.

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SPORTS LAW WORLD

Levels/Spheres:

  • Backyard and Schoolyard
  • Youth (League, Pee Wee, Pop Warner, Camps)
  • Scholastic (Little League, YMCA, Schools, Camps)
  • Collegiate (Junior College, College, and University Sports)
  • Noncollegiate (Club and Intramural)
  • Professional/Quasi-Professional
  • International (Olympic Games, Pan-American Games,
  • Paralympics, et.c) Professional Associations and Leagues

Areas of Laws, Rules, or Regulations:

  • Agency
  • Contracts
  • Ethics
  • Labor (Scholarships as Employment Contracts, Unions)
  • Constitutional (First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments plus Title IX)
  • Antitrust
  • Intellectual Property (Patent, Trademark & Copyright)
  • Torts (Negligence, Employment, Products Liability, etc.)
  • Worker’s Compensation
  • Insurance (Disability, Life, etc.)
  • Taxation
  • Estate Planning
  • Criminal (Ice Hockey, Skiing)
  • Immigration
  • International
  • Federal Communications Commission Broadcast
  • Regulations Internet/Worldwide Web
  • Civil Procedure (State or Federal Court?)
  • State and Federal Regulation (Athlete Agent Registration, etc.)
  • Federal and State Law (Statutory and Case)

Whom/What Affected

  • Player
  • Parent/Guardian
  • Family
  • Spouse
  • School/University
  • Agent/Manager
  • Coach
  • Assistant Coach
  • Physician
  • Trainer
  • Owner (Individual, Group or Municipality)
  • Sponsor
  • Event Organizer
  • Media (Television/Radio/Press/Internet)
  • Film or other properties promoter
  • Benefactor
  • Fan
  • League (and Union)
  • Umpire and Referee
  • Manufacturer of Goods
  • Ticket Vendors
  • Stadium Owners
  • Stadium Operators
  • Vendors/Licenses
  • Conference(s)
  • Municipality (Parks and Recreation Departments)

Types of Athletes:

  • “Amateur” Participates for physical, mental, and social benefits as an avocation
  • “Professional” Receives “compensation” to participate
  • “Quasi Amateur” Where a professional athlete becomes a temporary amateur

Youth:

  • Little League Baseball
  • Pee Wee Baseball
  • Little League Softball
  • Pop Warner Football

High School:

National Federation of State High School Associations

College::

  • National Collegiate Athletic Association
  • National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
  • National Junior College Athletic Association
  • Conferences (Big East, Big Ten, ACC, etc.)
  • Student-Athlete Unions

International:

  • National Governing Bodies
  • International Olympic Committee
  • United States Olympic Committee
  • International Paralympic Committee
  • International Committee of Sports for the Deaf
  • Special Olympics Committee
  • Invictus Games Committee
  • World Championships Committees
  • World Indoor Championships Committee
  • University Games Committee
  • Military Championships Committee
  • Military Track & Field Championships Committee

Special Events:

  • Bowls
  • Tours and Entertainment
  • Boston Marathon
  • “Holiday On Ice” Skating
  • Team Tennis
  • Harlem Globetrotters
  • National Veterans
  • Wheelchair Games
  • Individuals
  • Organizations

Notes:
1. This outline was updated and is copyright ©2023 by Gregory J. Tarone. A.B., J.D., Georgetown University. Admitted to the New York, Florida, Massachusetts, and Colorado bars. Note that this list is not meant to be a comprehensive compilation, but rather, a dynamic, evolving description of the sports law spectrum worldwide, covering all kinds of sports, athletes, organizations, laws, rules, regulations, and ethics.

2. The International Olympic Committee began allowing professionals to compete in 1988. The NBA and NHL players and others become a sort of “quasi-professionals” for the period during which they are competing.

3. The World Wrestling Association is generally accepted to be entertainment rather than genuinely competitive sport, and as such utilizes its own regulatory structure for events.