Boston Red Sox, Boston Globe, and NESN: What Happens When One Entity Owns them All?

Fascinating piece by Ian Donnis of the Boston Phoenix about the "growing synergistic cartel" of the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Globe, and the New England Sports Network (NESN), the regional cable station that broadcasts over 150 sox games. (Donnis, "Inside Baseball," Boston Phoenix, Aug. 4, 2005). The common link among the three is the New York Times Company, which owns the Globe and which is a minority investor (17 percent) in the Red Sox, which itself owns 80 percent of NESN. Donnis examines whether this affiliated relationship might affect...

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Little League Umpire Prohibits Spanish during Game

Believing that an assistant little league coach for Methuen (Massachusetts) was communicating "illegal" instructions to his players in Spanish, an umpire in the state's little league tournament for 13-14 year olds decreed that Spanish would not be spoken thereafter in the game, otherwise the offending team would forfeit (Silva & Mishra, "Team Forced to Listen to Umpire's Call," Boston Globe, July 30, 2005). This decree occurred when Methuen was leading 3-1 over Seekonk, and assistant coach Domingo Infante gave the following instruction to his...

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Update on Bob Lobel's Libel Suit against Darby Conley

Two months ago, we detailed CBS-4 sportscaster Bob Lobel's libel suit against syndicated cartoonist Darby Conley, who is best known for his "Get Fuzzy" cartoon. The lawsuit arose after Conley published a controversial Get Fuzzy cartoon, which appeared in over 450 New England newspapers. The cartoon featured a dog, cat, and their owner watching Lobel on TV, and the dog says "Is this sportscaster . . . drunk?," to which the owner replies, "Lobel? Who knows?," leading the cat and owner to get into argument, with the dog finally saying, "Guys, guys!...

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Updates on the Hockey CBA: Goodenow and Drug Testing

Perhaps not surprisingly, Bob Goodenow is no longer the head of the NHL players union. After losing an entire season, the players agreed to a deal that many feel is unfavorable. It is unclear how the internal negotiations proceeded, but Goodenow likely was unhappy being forced to agree to a salary cap.In the States, some people trying to keep their jobs continued the Moral Crusade Against Performance-Enhancing Drugs. The Chairmen of the US House Government Reform Comm. sent a letter to the NHL and the NHLPA blasting the two sides for the weak drug...

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Update to NBA Player Arrest Study

In my study on NBA player arrest and age/education, I added an education-level comparison of arrested NBA players to all current NBA players. There are some rather striking results that appear to amplify the study's findings.Most notably, though 41.1 percent of all NBA players went to college for 4 years, 57.1 percent of arrested NBA players went to college for 4 years. In contrast, though 14.8 percent of all NBA players either did not go to college or went for one year, only 9.6 of arrested NBA players share the same educational backgrou...

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Labor in Sports: The Next NFL Agreement

Now that the NBA and NHL have labor peace for the foreseeable future, those interested in sports and labor law will turn their attention to the NFL and Major League Baseball. Today, I will look at the potential issues in the NFL's next labor agreement. Next month, I will examine the hurdles that baseball must overcome.The NFL is seen today as having the best labor agreement among the major sports, but this was not always the case. A series of labor problems and work stoppages culminated in the 1987 strike, where the owners hired replacement players...

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Manny Ramirez and His Attempt to Show Why Guaranteed Contracts Are Bad for Sports

A day after Boston Red Sox outfielder Trot Nixon strained an oblique muscle--an injury that placed him on the disabled list this morning--his teammate, Manny Ramirez, asked out of the lineup for this afternoon's game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Ramirez insisted on taking today off even after his manager, Terry Francona, requested that he instead take a day off when the team isn't so short-handed. Ramirez declined Francona's request. His reason? He needed rest -- even though the team already has a scheduled day off tomorrow. So the Red Sox...

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More on the NBA Agreement: The Allan Houston Rule Explained

One of the most interesting parts of the new NBA agreement is the so-called 'Allan Houston Rule', which allows teams to waive one player prior to October 1, without having to pay any further luxury tax on the player's contract. It is called the Allan Houston Rule, because the Knicks will certainly use it to rid themselves of Houston, who is often injured and is still owed $40 million. Michael Finley, who is owed $51 million by the Mavericks, is another potential candidate.This is a very odd idea. Under the rule, a team that waives a player must...

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An Age Limit in Hockey? Not So Fast...

Below, Mike has written a great post (7/17) about the age limit reported to be in the new hockey CBA, as well as a legal strategy for defeating such an age limit. It appears that TSN Canada was wrong, though, so that legal argument will have to be saved for another day. As the NHL describes the new agreement: Who is eligible for selection in the Entry Draft?Draft eligibility rules will remain unchanged from the expired CBA (all players must be age 18 by September 15 in the year in which the Draft is held).Thus, it appears that baseball and hockey...

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RFK Stadium's False Dimensions: Are The Washington Nationals Liable for Misrepresentation?

My brother Bill brought to my attention an interesting piece by Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post regarding Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, home of the Washington Nationals, and home of the false field dimensions. (Svrluga, "Errors in the Outfield," Wash. Post, 7/22/05). After listening to Nationals' third-baseman Vinny Castilla complain that the left-center field power alley was significantly farther from home plate than the listed distance of 380 feet, Svrluga decided to measure the distance. He found that the actual distance was 394 feet. Before...

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If Lebron is Good for Business, Why Adopt an Age Limit?

Following the new collective bargaining agreements in the NBA and NHL, as well as last month's NBA draft, a great deal has been written on the wisdom and legality of age limits in professional sports. Mike (as always) has convincingly argued that age limits are both illogical and in violation of antitrust law. As he points out (7/20, 6/28), there seems to be no correlation between player "experience" (as measured by college attendance and age) and success in the league or trouble with the law. Moreover, statistically, younger players show that...

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Update on NBA Player Arrest Study

In addition to adding several names to the list of NBA players who have been arrested, I added statistical data for only those NBA players who were arrested while still playing in the NBA. I also added statistical medians. The new and expanded chart is available he...

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Judge John G. Roberts and Sports Law

Lost amid the endless media coverage of Judge John G. Roberts, Jr.'s' nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court is perhaps the most salient question: What are his views on sports law? Okay, maybe that's not number one on the list of questions that Senators Leahy, Kennedy, Schumer et. al are preparing to ask, but it's something that we are interested in. So what do we know about Judge Roberts and his views on sports law? Let's start as early as possible in his life. We know that he was on the football, wrestling, and track teams at La Lumiere, a then...

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More on NBA Player Arrests and Age/Education

Some persons have e-mailed me claiming that my study on NBA player arrests and age/education is irrelevant to the NBA's efforts to raise the Draft entry age. They claim that it's really about player performance--that prep-to-pro players have struggled in the NBA.If you are one of those persons, let me just respond this way: You're wrong. The NBA has carefully avoided discussion of player performance because prep-to-pro players in the NBA average more points, grab more rebounds, and dish out more assists than the average NBA player or the average...

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My Sporting News Radio Interview this Sunday

In case you're looking for something to do this Sunday at 6 P.M., I'm going to be interviewed on Sporting News Radio Boston (1510 The Zone). The program is called Sports Court and it is hosted by David Frank and Scott Gilefsky, both of whom are attorneys in Massachusetts. We will discuss some of the recent posts on this blog, including my study on NBA player arrests and age/education. If you are interested, here is the link to "listen live." I hope you have a chance to listen, as I think it will be a great discussi...

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NBA Players That Get In Trouble With the Law: Do Age and Education Level Matter?

Among the claims often expressed for raising the age floor in the NBA is that prep-to-pros players are more likely to get in off-court trouble, since they lack a college education and, as David Stern puts it, "life experience." One way to test this idea is to study NBA players that have actually gotten in trouble with the law. Were they college educated? Were they young and impressionable? I did a little bit of research, and while I cannot ensure that the following chart reflects a complete list, it is quite extensive and likely covers most...

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