The United States has made undeniable strides in human rights and anti-discrimination efforts, but there is still much to work on. For forty-three years, Title IX has been enacted, but the glass ceiling for women remains alive and well within the sports industry. Female athletes competing at intercollegiate levels are receiving about 10 percent less in scholarship amounts than their male counterparts. - Read more...
Many of the nation’s finest college athletes are preparing to participate in the upcoming 2016 summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Participating athletes should keep in mind that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) and its regulations will still affect them during their participation in the 2016 Olympics. - Read more...
A painted face with symbols of war. A feathered headdress worn for sacred ceremonies. The steady beat of a leather drum. A brave giving a war cry. A garment worn to show affiliation. As thousands of fans visit their teams’ stadiums they witness vendors selling team gear, savory treats from carts, and protesters. Opposition to the honorary titles of the redskins, the Indians, the savages. - Read more...
One hundred million people tune in every month to watch their favorite players go head to head online and on ESPN. Stadiums around the world sell out in minutes when an event comes to town. The superstars of this sport make seven figures for winning a single tournament (that’s not even including the lucrative sponsorship opportunities from companies itching to get in on the action). You may think I’m talking about baseball or basketball, but you’d be wrong. This sport brings in more viewers for a single tournament than the World Series and the NBA Finals combined. What I’m talking about is something called “e-sports” and if you don’t know about it yet, rest assured you will soon. - Read more...
Anderson Silva woke up on July 6, 2013 as the greatest UFC champion of all time. As of this morning [March 10, 2015] he is perhaps the most controversial Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter of all time. This journey from the mixed martial arts (MMA) penthouse to doghouse can be attributed to four events: (1) Silva’s July 6, 2013 title loss to Chris Weidman in which he taunted Weidman before being knocked out; (2) Silva’s December 28, 2013 rematch loss to Weidman in which Silva brutally broke his leg; (3) Silva’s January 31, 2015 comeback win versus Nick Diaz; and (4) the subsequent release of two positive tests for performance enhancing drugs by Silva before the Diaz fight. - Read more...
The University of Hawaii Manoa's athletic department has already had a rough 2015. At the end of January, Athletic Director Ben Jay received a bill of more than $500 from a Riverside, California hotel for the cleaning costs to remove marijuana smoke residue from the walls of rooms assigned to the University of Hawaii men's basketball team. - Read more...
The Super Bowl is coming to Phoenix. The city is ablaze with the pump of tourist money and the adrenaline of hosting possibly the most important sports match of the entire year for Americans. However, I wonder how I can cash in on the action. I do not intend to scalp tickets, sell T-shirts, or sit on a street corner offering soda or water for a dollar to the crowds on the hot sidewalk. Nor will I do anything illegal or morally unsound. I intend on making money in a far easier and more legitimate way. As a student residing in five bedroom house, my immediate money making ideas stem from the amazing property I have in the city of Tempe--not far from the city of Glendale--where the actual Super Bowl will be played. The simplest mechanism I can imagine for making money is the one pioneered on the internet by an overwhelmingly young demographic, Airbnb.com. - Read more...
In this case, the women are the referees, and they just booked FIFA with a red card. For years, the soccer federation, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), has dealt with allegations of bribery, vote-rigging, and corruption. This October, FIFA faces a new allegation: gender discrimination. On the heels of the successful 2014 Men’s World Cup, FIFA began implementing plans for the tournament’s counterpart: the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Ontario, Canada. For example, this autumn, FIFA announced that in the 2015 tournament, female players will play on turf instead of grass. - Read more...
The Dallas Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones breathed a collective sigh of relief this past week when a state judge ruled that a lawsuit brought against Jones by Jana Weckerly, a former stripper, was barred by the statute of limitations. Ms. Weckerly brought the suit against Jones in September, alleging that Jones had sexually assaulted her in 2009 and seeking over $1M in damages. She later made an amendment claiming that Jones and his attorneys had paid her over the past four years for her to keep her silence. In addition to arguing that the statute of limitations barred the suit, counsel for Jones and the Cowboys denied Ms. Weckerly’s allegations and described the suit as an attempt to extort Jones. Counsel also moved for sanctions against Ms. Weckerly for filing what they described as a “frivolous pleading for the purpose of harassment.” Sexual misconduct charges are not uncommon in professional sports. The dismissal of the Jerry Jones lawsuit conjures memories of similar suits against Kobe Bryant, Ben Roethlisberger, and more recently, Colin Kaepernick. Charges against Bryant, Roethlisberger, and Kaepernick were ultimately dropped, but the accusations left dark shadows on otherwise illustrious careers. - Read more...
Sports betting in the United States has become a divisive subject in recent years, partially due to the incredible revenue potential it carries. Online sports betting in the U.S. nearly tripled from 2001 to 2005, resulting in revenues upwards of $4.2 billion. The federal government has effectively outlawed sports gambling through the creation of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), with the only exception being for states that already had legalized gambling when PASPA was enacted (Delaware, Nevada, Montana, and Oregon). Certain states not within the exception are eager to take advantage of this cash cow to help balance their budgets. - Read more...