{"id":611,"date":"2011-12-31T10:22:52","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T16:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/?p=611"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:31:27","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:31:27","slug":"analysis-of-sports-law-stories-to-watch-for-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/analysis-of-sports-law-stories-to-watch-for-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis of Sports Law Stories to Watch for 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it is always interesting to take a step back and look at\nwhat we believed would be the Ten Biggest stories for 2011.  I think we had a pretty good hit rate on\nthese but we take a look in greater detail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They certainly did not all make our Top 11 Stories for 2011 because I don’t\nthink that anyone could have envisioned some of the things happening at Ohio\nState, Penn State, Syracuse and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Agent regulations–HIT<\/li>
  2. Concussions–HIT<\/li>
  3. Conference realignment–HIT<\/li>
  4. LA luring professional football teams–SWING AND MISS<\/li>
  5. Lance Armstrong federal investigation–SWING AND MISS<\/li>
  6. MLB use of instant replay–FOUL TIP<\/li>
  7. NBA CBA–HIT<\/li>
  8. NFL CBA–HIT<\/li>
  9. MLB CBA–SWING AND MISS<\/li>
  10. Roger Clemens–FOUL TIP<\/li>
  11. Social Media–HIT<\/li>
  12. Tiger Woods–FOUL TIP<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Agent regulations              HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We hit this one pretty squarely on point.  There was finally some movement non this\nlandscape to look into the issues of agent regulation and for the first time to\nreally consider whether a national regulation would be appropriate and what\nmeasures would be needed to accomplish better regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Concussions       HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This one was easy, just as it will be for\nthe next 10-20 years.  You can put this\none in the permanent list and enshrine it into the Hall of Fame.  As we said in our preview, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It is\nprobably the biggest health related issue in sports (and not just football) in\nover 20 years.   While people pointed to\nsteroids and other types of performance enhancing substances, concussions\nimpact everyone that plays collision sports, not only those that voluntarily\ntake banned substances.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Conference realignment              HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Another busy year as schools moved all over\nthe place, in many instances making the geographic and numeric conference\ndesignations meaningless. 12 teams in the Big 10; Ten teams in the Big 12; Pac\n10 to Pac 12; And now we have teams from the west in the Big East, Missouri and\nTexas A&M in the Southeast Conference and more crazy moves potentially on\nthe horizon.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    LA luring professional football\nteams                     FOUL TIP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It was a story and the stadium construction\nwas a big story.  Might not have been big\nenough to warrant being in the Top 11 but was definitely a relevant story<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lance Armstrong federal\ninvestigation                  SWING AND A\nMISS (SWUNG WAY TOO EARLY)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This investigation still goes on in the\nbackground. Reports from sources that I trust a lot indicate that there are\nstill potentially serious consequences ahead for Lance Armstrong.  But we were probably a year premature given\nthe slow pace of federal investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    MLB use of instant replay            SWING AND MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    MLB continues to be absurdly slow in adopting\nproper replay rules.  An ongoing process\nthat needlessly prevents getting the calls right.  Still relevant but not a top story for the\nyear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    NBA CBA                              HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You cannot get more relevant than the\nlockout which claimed the early part of the NBA season preventing fans from\ngetting any games until Christmas Day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    NFL CBA                               HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The NFL labor dispute got a lot more\ncoverage and publicity than the NBA, in part because only baseball was still\ngoing on.  But certainly the lockout and\nthe deal that was put in place for the next ten years dominated the middle part\nof the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    MLB CBA                             SWING AND MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The MLB labor situation never materialized\nto be a big story in 2011.  With the NFL\nand NBA dealing with actual labor stoppages, lockouts and lawsuits, MLB did its\nwork behind the scenes and appears to be in a solid position.  While the accomplishments may have been very\nimportant they did not merit inclusion in the Top 11 Stories<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Roger Clemens                 FOUL TIP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Roger Clemens trial on perjury charges was\npretty weak.  The government failed to\nget the verdict that they were looking for and Clemens did not receive the\ndegree of punishment that the government hoped to use as an example.  Not surprisingly, they failed similarly with\nBarry Bonds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Social Media                      HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Twitter, Facebook and a variety of rapidly\ndeveloping tools continue to plague\/benefit professional and college sports\n(depending on what perspective you want to take).  For fans, the social media access is great\nbecause it allows us to hear directly from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Ochocinco telling us about his escapades<\/li>
    • Barry Sanders congratulating Montee Ball on his\nrecords and attempts to break Barry Sanders own incomprehensible accomplishment<\/li>
    • Dan Marino congratulating Drew Brees moments\nafter Brees had shattered Marino’s season yardage passing record.<\/li>
    • Media covering the event in a more personalized\nstyle than they are allowed to express in their formal” written pieces<\/li>
    • Teams and universities making announcements\navailable directly to the public rather than having to have all statements\nfiltered through the (sometimes) jaded perspective of long time reporters.<\/li>
    • College and professional athletes sharing their\nthoughts and interests with us<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      For the teams, schools, leagues and\nconferences, the social media is a terrific tool, but one that can create great\nharm when not managed properly or when an employee or athlete make off-the-cuff\nremarks that are now reported as mainstream news on the ESPN ticker.  The ability to monitor, teach, guide and\nexplain the process to the athletes is one that will be ongoing and\nchallenging.  But it is one the teams\nwill have to face to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Tiger Woods                      FOUL TIP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Tiger Woods is no longer relevant in the\nway that he was prior to the disclosure of his adulterous lifestyle.  Will he ever reach that magnitude again?  Everyone watched and waited and Tiger did\ndisplay some signs of brilliance, but he was not able to gain any ground on\nJack Nicklaus’ record, his inclusion on the President’s Cup team was\ncontroversial (rather than a given) and he kept himself out of most of the\nlimelight.  Our bet is that we will start\nseeing A LOT more of Tiger in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      FINAL SCORECARD FOR THE 2011\nPREVIEW<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Hits                                                        6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Foul\nTips                                              3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Swing\nand Miss                                 3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      So it is always interesting to take a step back and look at what we believed would be the Ten Biggest stories for 2011. I think we had a pretty good hit rate on these but we take a look in greater detail. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,294,80,17,290,11],"tags":[314,362,299,361,360,363,6,315,359],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}