NIL Deals With Commercial Entities Are a Long Time in Coming I have previously blogged about the new deals between college athletes and commercial enterprises that allow the athletes to profit off athletes’ names, images, and likenesses (NIL) via commercial opportunities and social media. The athletes shed blood, sweat, and... Read more →

What Message Does it Send? Under California Penal Code § 240 PC--California Assault Law-- an assault is the unlawful attempt, along with the present ability to cause violent injury to another person. Simple assault is a [standard] misdemeanor punishable by up to 6 months in jail and fines of up... Read more →

From NIL to Paying Athletes, to Making Them Employees. What’s Next? I recall the furor about paying college athletes for their efforts just a few years ago. Some said it was the end of amateurism in college sports, especially football. College amateur athletics used to be a moniker worth being... Read more →

Are Partnerships Between Sports Betting Companies and Universities a Bridge Too Far? The commercialization of collegiate sports is an outgrowth of the legitimization of gambling in America. It started with off-track-betting, spread to state lotteries, then casino gambling, and now we have fantasy sports betting. Collegiate sports have been affected... Read more →

Exploring the Costs and Benefits of the New NCAA Rules I have previously blogged about whether college athletes should be paid for their services. They shed blood, sweat, and tears in their sports competition. Universities make millions from admissions fees to sporting events, sponsorships, deals with athletic companies like Nike,... Read more →

Disconnect Between Democrats and Republicans Moral Values are inter-linked with ethical standards and establish a framework for right behavior in society. Morality in the U.S. is on the decline, which is the topic of today's blog. Is there a disconnect between the Democrats and Republicans with respect to how they... Read more →

Implications of Supreme Court Decision After a long battle in the courts, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the NCAA rules that limit educational benefits for athletes are not reasonably necessary to distinguish between college and professional sports. Under current NCAA rules, athletes cannot be paid or profit from... Read more →

The Role of Internal Motivation in Sports I must admit a bias against the awarding of participation trophies to kids even if they do not win a sports contest. From an ethical perspective it runs the risk of harming one’s internal motivation to work as hard as possible; do you... Read more →

Professionalization versus Commercialization Last week I blogged about the new law in California that changes the rules of the game with respect to college athletes being able to earn money from the use of their names or likeness as well as through endorsement deals. The law, Fair Pay to Play,... Read more →

Did California Do the Right Thing? California is leading the nation in allowing student-athletes to promote products and companies, trading on their sports fame for the first time. On September 30, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill (SB 206) that will take effect in 2023 to allow players to strike... Read more →