December 5, 2014 Legislation / MLB / NBA / NFL / NHL

Bill Ending Antitrust Exemptions for Pro Sports Leagues Introduced

A bill to end the current permanent antitrust exemptions of the four major professional sports leagues was introduced by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. on December 2.

Titled the Sustained Promotion of Responsibility in Team Sports Act (SPORTS), the bill would remove permanent antitrust exemptions for NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA one year from the bill’s enactment and replace it with a reauthorization process every five years. According to the SPORTS Act, ninety-five days before ending the exemption, Congress would have an up-down vote on a …

October 21, 2014 Legislation / NCAA

Sports Leagues and NCAA Challenge Christie’s Sports Bill

Four major professional sports leagues and the NCAA (collectively the “leagues”) responded to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s partial repeal of New Jersey’s ban on sports betting. The leagues filed a federal lawsuit on Monday seeking a temporary injunction on sports betting in New Jersey. The state’s first sports bet is scheduled for Sunday at Monmouth Park racetrack, where ten tellers will be taking bets on the NFL.

The leagues argue that Governor Christie’s sports betting bill accomplishes

“what it unsuccessfully attempted to do

October 20, 2014 Legislation

Sports Betting in New Jersey Now in Gov. Christie’s Hands

On Thursday, October 16, the New Jersey State Assembly passed along a bill seeking to repeal the State’s prohibitions on sports betting. The bill currently awaits signature or veto by Governor Chris Christie.

Sports betting has been a legislative concern since a majority of voters approved a betting referendum back in 2011. Christie approved the subsequent law in 2012, which legalized sports betting within the state. In response, the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NCAA sued claiming the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act …

October 9, 2014 Legislation / NCAA

NCAA Fights PA Law to Spread Penn State’s Sandusky Fine Nationwide

On Monday, October 6, the NCAA filed a motion in federal court, asking to have a newly enacted Pennsylvania law, which manipulates the Penn State Sandusky fine, invalidated as it is unconstitutional.

The NCAA’s motion is directed at the Institution of Higher Education Monetary Penalty Endowment Act, which was enacted in 2013 in response to a fine levied against Penn State University. In 2012, the NCAA and Penn State agreed to a Consent Decree penalizing the university for the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal. …

October 4, 2014 Legislation

Leagues Respond to New Jersey Sports Betting

On Monday, September 29, four major professional sports leagues and the NCAA (“Leagues”) challenged New Jersey’s latest attempt to offer legal sports gambling within the state. The Leagues filing is in response to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s directive to allow casinos and racetracks to offer sports wagering so long as it is not state-regulated.

The Leagues argue that Governor Christie’s directive conflicts with the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) which bans individual sports gambling in all but four states. Governor Christie …

September 13, 2014 Legislation

Odds May Be Better For New Jersey Sports Wagering

New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, issued a directive that allows the state’s casinos and racetracks to offer sports betting. Governor Christie based his directive on a Third Circuit court ruling that said New Jersey is not necessarily prohibited from repealing its ban on sports wagering.

However, many believe that Governor Christie is exploiting a loophole in a federal law. The law bans states from setting up regulatory schemes for sports betting, but allows the state to deregulate gambling, rather than regulate it. Governor Christie …

June 30, 2014 Legislation

New Jersey’s Long Stretch to Legalize Sports Betting

Today New Jersey Senator Ray Lesniak is expected to introduce a bill that presumably would circumvent the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), a federal law prohibiting sports betting, to allow sports gambling in the state’s casinos and racetracks.

His plan was announced shortly after the Supreme Court denied to hear the state’s appeal on Monday. New Jersey previously challenged the federal law in an effort to legalize sports betting in the state but has lost three times in federal court.

Senator Lesniak’s bill …

April 8, 2014 Legislation / Tax

Senator Schumer Helps Broadway Get A Break

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pushing Congress to support a bill giving tax breaks to the Broadway theater industry. Schumer’s bill would give Broadway theater a huge financial boost under a change in the federal tax code.

His proposal, recently passed by the State Finance Committee, would allow 100 percent of any live theatre investment to be deducted up to $15 million per production. This type of tax incentive is currently granted to television and film projects, but has yet to reach live theater. …

February 6, 2014 Legislation

House Democrats Attempting to Save Net Neutrality

Recently, the federal appeals court for the D.C. Circuit vacated the Federal Communication Commission (FCC)’s net neutrality rules, claiming that the FCC had failed to justify these regulations under existing law. However, noting that the appeals court ruling clearly stated that the FCC had the power to regulate broadband access, two Representatives – California Democrats Henry Waxman and Anna Eshoo – are leading a Congressional push to get temporary net neutrality rules in place until the FCC can properly tailor those regulations in a manner …

December 17, 2013 Legislation

“Cumulative Trauma” California Claim Dismissed by California Court of Appeal

As detailed in prior articles, click here, California has very recently passed litigation in the form of Assembly Bill 1309 an attempt to stem the tide of “cumulative trauma” type claims that have been filed in California by current or former athletes with little or no connection to that state. Although AB 1309 is not discussed in the December 2013 decision of the Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District in the claim of a former WNBA professional, it is clear that California …