Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport
https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/jlas
<p>The <em>Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport</em> (JLAS) aims to increase the understanding and advancement of legal issues as applied to all aspects of sport. This peer-reviewed jorunal publishes manuscripts from a variety of disciplines, covering legal aspects relating to sport, recreation, and related fields for the purpose of informing policy, advancing the body of knowledge, and influencing decision-making. As the flagship journal of the Sports & Recreation Law Association since 1991, <em>JLAS</em> serves as an interdisciplinary outlet to meet the needs of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.</p>Sport and Recreation Law Associationen-USJournal of Legal Aspects of Sport1072-0316A Post-COVID Inflection Point and Call to Action: Theorizing a Legal Right to Youth Sport, Play, and Physical Activity in the United States
https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/jlas/article/view/27251
<p>Literature links sport, play, and similar leisure endeavors to numerous physical, psychological, and social benefits critical to a young person’s development. Unlike other nations, the United States lacks a national policy to fund structures supporting youth sport, play, and the like. Instead, a for-profit youth sport industry oversees this sector using a pay-to-play model, creating significant financial and access barriers. The COVID-19 pandemic created an inflection point and call for action to meaningfully reform youth sport. Advocates often claim, without providing legal justification, that access to sport and play is a constitutional right. Therefore, the purpose of this commentary is to move beyond aspiration or hypothetical rhetoric and investigate whether a persuasive legal argument exists that places a constitutional legal responsibility upon the United States federal government to create structures, allocate funding, and provide universal access to free sport, recreation, and play opportunities for youth. While review and analysis of relevant case law found that no constitutional right likely existed under United States law, this process confirmed that that such claims will have little chance of success under current precedent. Therefore, given the improbability of substantive voluntary reforms in the private sector, a deeper exploration of innovative legal theories is required to achieve the necessary structural change.</p>Jeffrey F. Levine
Copyright (c) 2024 Jeffrey F. Levine
2024-02-292024-02-2934112510.18060/27251'Entertaining' a New College Athlete Unionization Structure
https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/jlas/article/view/28013
<p>Between athletes still feeling short-changed despite name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation and coaches and administrators feeling generally unhappy with the unregulated, “wild west” landscape of NIL, college sports is faced with two competing forces pushing college athletics in two distinctly different directions. There is an obvious solution to all of the strife in college sports: the legal recognition of college athletes as employees and the creation of a formally recognized college athlete labor union, allowing athletes to collectively bargain for a share of media rights revenues and other work conditions, while also allowing the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to collectively bargain for more regulations and restrictions on NIL activity without facing antitrust scrutiny by virtue of the non-statutory labor exemption.</p> <p>There are several unique challenges to organizing a labor union comprised of athletes, including the breadth and variety of their negotiating interests. However, there is a robust union that has been in operation since the 1930s that may provide a baseline framework: the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). In this article, we explore potential frameworks for a college athlete union by using SAG-AFTRA and other major unions as templates. SAG-AFTRA’s unique national-local structure serves as a guide for how to create a robust and effective college athlete union that meets all sides’ interests in reforming college sports.</p>Joseph SabinSam C. EhrlichFlory BiermaAndrew Goldsmith
Copyright (c) 2024 Joseph Sabin, Sam C. Ehrlich, Flory Bierma, Andrew Goldsmith
2024-02-292024-02-29341267610.18060/28013Buffer Zones Through the Lens of Golf: A Negligence Case Content Analysis
https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/jlas/article/view/27261
<p>Buffer zones are a risk management strategy used within sport and recreation to protect participants and spectators from injury. Within the recreational golf sector, buffer zone standards do not exist. Recreational golf courses serve a wide range of customers in terms of age, skill level, and experience. A legal case content analysis of 1,561 golf negligence lawsuits answered research questions related to locations of incidents, circumstances, and injuries or damages that resulted from errant golf shots. A Westlaw search provided 133 cases within the scope of this study, 85 of which could have been possibly prevented with proper buffer zones. In lawsuits in which the golf course was sued, the course prevailed 47.5% of the time and most cases specifically alleged a failure to provide reasonably safe conditions or negligent course design. This article concludes by providing practical recommendations for practitioners to protect golf courses from litigation stemming from errant golf balls.</p>Natalie BirdMerry Moiseichik
Copyright (c) 2024 Natalie Bird, Merry Moiseichik
2024-02-292024-02-293417710610.18060/27261