I'm honored to be the Distinguished Visiting Hall of Fame Professor of Law at Mississippi College School of Law, where I taught full-time from 2005 and 2008. I now teach a sports law course there every May and I remain active in the Mississippi sports and legal communities. I consider Mississippi my other home state.
A few days ago, I answered 5 sports law questions for Rick Cleveland, the executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame & Museum. Topics include NFL concussion litigation, Bountygate, legality of the Bowl Championship Series, the NCAA banning Twitter hashtags and O'Bannon v. NCAA. Here's an excerpt:
Part of the problem is that the NFL and NFLPA have a strained relationship, to put it mildly, partly due to the lockout and partly due to years of not trusting one another.
Part of the problem is also that the NFL commissioner has tremendous, non-reviewable powers, and that the players accepted those powers in collective bargaining. Had the lockout not dragged on right up until the 2011 season, I suspect the players would have had more time to negotiate more due process. But they didn’t, so the commissioner’s authorities remain quite strong.
To read the rest, click here.