SportsWise: A Podcast About Sports and the Law

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I'm joined again by Cody Campbell to talk about the battle for college sports legislation in Congress, the Brendan Sorsby saga, and Cody's increasingly public fight with the SEC and Big Ten over the future of college athletics, and much, much more. Thank you for listening! For the latest in sports law news and analysis, you can follow Gabe Feldman on twi...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we are back to talking about college sports. We have some movement in Congress, more lawsuits in the courts, but the multi-billion dollar question that is in the center of it all is whether college sports will try to package all of their football media rights. I'm joined by sports media legend Chris Bevilacqua to talk about whether schools should pool their F...

Send us Fan Mail  On this episode, I’m joined by Rutgers Athletic Director Kelli Zinn to talk about leading a Big Ten athletic department through the most chaotic era college sports has ever seen. We talk NIL, revenue sharing, the House settlement, the future of Olympic sports, why Rutgers is betting big on revenue generation, and how to win in college sports when the rules keep changing.  Thank y...

Send us Fan Mail  On this episode, we dive back into the wild world of college sports with the NCAA's lead outside counsel, Rakesh Kilaru. Over the last year, NIL deals totaling over $240 million have been cleared by the College Sports Commission, in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been shared directly with college athletes by the schools. But we are in the midst of...

Send us Fan Mail College sports’ eligibility rules are under attack, and Ryan Downton is one of the lawyers leading the charge. He represents Diego Pavia and other athletes challenging NCAA limits on JUCO seasons, redshirts, and the five-year clock. We talk antitrust, fairness, the future of eligibility, and whether the NCAA can ever find stability in this new era.  Thank you for listening! For th...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I’m joined by the Athletic Director at the University of North Carolina, Bubba Cunningham, and Yahoo Sports Senior College Football Reporter, Ross Dellenger, to talk about the latest in college sports. Transfer portal, eligibility lawsuits, NIL enforcement, athlete compensation, Olympic sport funding, employment status, Title IX, conference realignment  and whethe...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I'm joined by the chairman of the Chicago Bears. George McCaskey, for a wide ranging conversation about one of the NFL's most iconic franchises, and the challenge of honoring the team's legacy while building for the future, including the team's looming stadium decision and the realities of modern NFL ownership. And for the first time ever, I&ap...

Send us Fan Mail  It’s a Super Bowl special episode, and I’m joined by long-time NY Times reporter Ken Belson, to talk about his book 'Every Day is Sunday,' which focuses on how Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and others transformed the NFL into a cultural and economic powerhouse. We discuss the financial instability of the 1980s and 1990s, and key changes such as free agency, the salary cap,...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I’m joined by Darren Heitner, the lawyer who has probably been involved in more college sports and NIL matters than anyone in the country—including his current representation of Duke/former Duke quarterback Darian Mensah.  Darren joins to talk about college revenue sharing and NIL deals, lawsuits challenging NCAA transfer and eligibility restrictions, and much mor...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I'm joined by the most prominent sports lawyer that you've probably never. Heard of. His name is Jay Reisinger, and he has represented some of the highest-profile professional athletes in the country in league disciplinary cases, salary, arbitration cases, and crisis management. If you're a pro athlete and you're in trouble, he's the man t...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I'm joined by a living legal legend, David Boies. David is truly a man who needs a little introduction, but I will mention three of his most famous cases: US vs. Microsoft, Bush v Gore, and Hollingsworth v. Perry, the landmark marriage equality case. David joins me to talk about his work in the sports world, including his current representation of Panini in i...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I’m joined by Charlie Baker, President of the NCAA and former Governor of Massachusetts. Charlie discusses the biggest misconceptions about the NCAA, prospects of federal legislation for college sports, the ongoing athlete eligibility lawsuits, the NCAA’s new partnership with Team IMPACT, and much more.   Thank you for listening! For the latest in sports law news...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I’m joined by United States Senator Richard Blumenthal .  With the push for college sports reform heating up in Congress, Senator Blumenthal breaks down why the SAFE Act—and not the SCORE Act— is the right path forward for college athletics. He describes the NCAA as an abject failure in protecting athletes' rights, and explains how the SAFE Act establishes a...

Send us Fan Mail   On this episode, I’m joined by arguably the most powerful man--and one of the wealthiest--in college sports, Cody Campbell .  Cody is co-founder and co-CEO of Double Eagle Energy Holdings and chair of the Board of Regents of the Texas Tech University system. Cody joins to discuss his plan to save college sports, including amending the Sports Broadcasting Act to permit the poolin...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I’m joined by Jay Paterno, former Penn State QB, longtime Penn State assistant coach, son of college football legend Joe Paterno, and now a college sports and NIL consultant. Jay joins to talk about the college coaching carousel and buyouts, including the recent firing of James Franklin, the impact of the NIL era, and the role of politicians in football programs.....

Send us Fan Mail  On this episode, we go back to the NFL, where one of the biggest stories off the field is Jon Gruden’s ongoing lawsuit against the NFL and Roger Goodell, where he alleges that the NFL and Goodell “engaged in a malicious and orchestrated campaign to destroy the career and reputation of Jon Gruden.”  To break down the big new developments in the case and what might happen next (and...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I’m joined by De Smith, the former longtime executive director of the NFLPA. De discusses his new book Turf Wars , his battles with Roger Goodell, the "petulant" NFL owners and their "diabolical general counsel," his perspective on the current NFLPA saga and the quest for guaranteed contracts, whether there might be any under the table deals wi...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I'm joined by Julie Roe Lach, Commissioner of the Horizon League. Most of the talk about the new era of college sports has focused on the Power Four conference, but Julie helps break down what a group of non-FBS Division I conferences are doing to prepare for the future, how they aim to protect collegiate Olympic sports funding and opportunities and maintain...

Send us Fan Mail  On this episode, I'm joined by the former General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, Jennifer Abruzzo. Jennifer discusses: 1) Why she thinks college athletes should be unionized employees who engage in collective bargaining 2) Why collective bargaining help, not hurt, college athletics as a whole 3) How and why conferences should collectively bargain with college...

Send us Fan Mail Legendary Title IX and sports lawyer, Janet Judge, joins to talk about the potential Title IX issues in college sports raised by the new roster caps, revenue sharing with athletes, the college sports executive order, and everything else you wanted to know about Title IX and gender equity issues in college sports.  Thank you for listening! For the latest in sports law news and anal...

Send us Fan Mail Mike Florio, creator and longtime editor of Pro Football Talk, author, radio host, television commentator, co-host of the Daily NFL Talk Show on Peacock with Chris Sims, and contributor to NBC's Sunday night NFL Studio show, Football Night in America , joins to talk about the latest in the ongoing NFL Players Association saga, why he believes that Deshaun Watson to the Clevel...

Send us Fan Mail  Irwin Raij, partner at Sidley and Co-Chair of their Entertainment, Sports, and Media Group, joins the pod to discuss what it means to be a sports business lawyer, issues around buying and selling pro sports teams,  trends in sports stadiums and real estate development, and the influx of private equity money in US pro sports and the complexities of bringing private equity money in...

Send us Fan Mail Congresswoman Lori Trahan, a former DI college volleyball player and a go-to voice in Congress on college sports issues (among many other issues) gives her perspective on the SCORE Act, the college sports bill that has progressed further than any other piece of college sports legislation. Rep. Trahan also gives insight into the debates in Congress around college sports and where t...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we tackle the collision of immigration law and college sports. With 100s of millions of dollars now flowing to college athletes, are international athletes allowed to get a piece of the new revenue pie? To help me break it all down, I’m joined by Catherine Haight, founder of Haight Law Group and a veteran sports immigration lawyer.  Thank you for listening! For th...

Send us Fan Mail  On this episode, we tackle the pending and looming Title IX challenges to NIL payments to college athletes from collectives and challenges to the new payments that schools will be making directly to athletes. To help me break it all down, I'm joined by Arthur Bryant, the lawyer who is bringing many of these lawsuits, and it was represented female athletes in Title IX cases f...