The Legal Environment of Sports and Entertainment

Reviewing Laws and Ethics Is it illegal because its unethical or unethical because its illegal? Ethics—doing what is right Legal—doing what is right according to law They are not always the same thing!

Purpose of Laws Laws impact the way we market sports Distribution is particularly impacted Sports and Entertainment laws meant to protect players, celebrities, producers, promoters and investors Encourage and protect competition and increase safety of consumers, viewers and fans

Major Laws in Sports and Entertainment Sherman Anti Trust Act No monopolies No price fixing Clayton Act Right to organize labor Right to sue if there is a monopoly National Labor Relations Act Prohibit discrimination Baseball legally exempt in 1922 from this ruling until 1998

Protecting Broadcasting Franchising TV service in any given area is authorized through a franchise Provider must pay local governments to provide cable in that area In 2005, cable providers wanted to keep braodcast flag A digital way to prohibit recording on TV—only cable providers wanted rights to distribute Court did not rule in their favor Now controlled to DVR and OnDemand

Protecting Entertainment Intellectual Property Laws Protects ideas, inventions and artistic creations Copyright Laws: protect the unique work of the originator Writers, artists, and musicians Copyright lasts for 70 years or lifetime of the artist Copyrights entitle artists to royalties Paid for using the work Only problem… Only valid in US

Listening Legally and Ethically! The Recording Industry Association of America tries to regulate music industry Increase in technology makes it difficult! File sharing, duplicating, recording

YouTube and Copyright https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_stewart_how_youtube_thinks_about_copyright?language=en What is protected on You Tube and what is not? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0 https://vimeo.com/6986692

Current Event Activity The Law and Ethics in Entertainment Select a current event in the area of entertainment law Suggested topics Taylor Swift leave Spotify/negotiating new album Jay Z and Tidal Music artists against streaming Harvey Wienstein Time Warner suing AT&T Assignment: Summarize your article Explain how this article relates to intellectual property laws and ethics Give your personal reflection on the matter 2 paragraphs Turn in on Edmodo

Sports Laws: Salary Caps and Bargaining

Labor Unions in Sports Since the 1950’s professional athletes have organized player’s associations Teams set up collective bargaining agreements with players association Create Collective Bargaining Agreements that determine minimum and maximum salaries, contracts, team rules Goal of these agreements is to avoid strikes and lockouts

Side Effects of Associations Salary Caps Maximum amount that teams can spend on player salaries Only exception is baseball Purpose is to prevent “wealthy” teams from attracting the best players

Entertainment Labor In the past, actors were under contracts with single studio Collective Bargaining Agreements with SAG, AFTRA regulate pay, benefits and working conditions How many hours child actors can work How long shoots can go Medicating actors

MLB Players Association Activity The MLB is the only league to not have a players association. Therefore, there are rich teams and poor teams. Each group represents a team! Group 1—Oakland A’s Group 2—New York Yankees Group 3—Atlanta Braves Your terms Your salary min-max Your trading agreement

Sports Law: Agents and Contracts

Show me the money! What is an agent? A legal representation of an athlete or celebrity Negotiate: Salary/compensation Contracts Endorsements and marketing deals Can represent individuals or whole organizations https://vimeo.com/62652371

Show me the money! Agents make a percentage of clients earnings from negotiated deals Agents must be familiar with contracts and laws Agents and NCAA Athletes College athletes can only have an agent AFTER their last college game If found to have an agent athletes can be disqualified from the NCAA Ex: Jerry get #1 draft pick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90BdnenVxvo

Managing the Money! Athletes in particular are quickly propelled into wealth Sponsors will often times provide handlers Handlers help athletes to manage their wealth and behavior No body likes a broke pro athlete! Advisers often are registered with the league and help to maintain wealth and sponsorships Example: Michael Jordan and Nike

Contracts A legally binding agreement between two or more parties Can be written or spoken Who uses contracts in Sports and Entertainment? Professional teams Sponsors and endorsers Movie studios Production companies

Steps in Creating a Contract Offer An invitation to make a contract The person making the offer is the offeror Acceptance The agreement to participate in the contract once there is a valid offer The person who accepts the offer is the offeree Consideration Both sides have to give up something and get something Usually requires some negotiating! Finalized Both parties agree and contract is made

Case Studies You will work in groups of 4 2 will act as lawyer and athlete 2 will act as lawyer and company/league You will work through the steps of creating a contract, each side will have confidential information Must accept, negotiate and finalize the deal! Last step Write the contract! What are the terms of the deal? What happens if the contract is breached? BE DETAILED!