- The Oxford Handbook of American Sports Law
- About the Editor
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- Introduction: American Sports Law Through Deflategate
- The Evolution of the Power of the Commissioner in Professional Sports
- Leagues and Owners: The Donald Sterling Story
- The Commissioner’s Power to Discipline Players for On- and Off-Field Misconduct
- The Regulation of Doping in U.S. and International Sports
- Drugs in Professional Sports
- Blood Sports in an Age of Liability
- Sports and American Tort Law
- The Increasing Role of Disability Issues in U.S. Sports Law
- Collective Bargaining and Workforce Protections in Sports
- Collective Bargaining in Professional Sports: The Duel Between Players and Owners and Labor Law and Antitrust Law
- The Single-Entity Doctrine of Antitrust as Applied to Sports Leagues
- Eligibility Rules in Professional Sports
- Athlete Representation
- Identity and Speech in Sports in the Social Media Era
- The “Shifting Line” of Sports Betting Legalization
- The Enduring Power of the Sports Broadcasting Act
- Youth and High School Sports Law Issues
- College Athletics: The Growing Tension Between Amateurism and Commercialism
- Title IX and U.S. College Sports: Contemporary Challenges to Compliance
- Recreational Sports Law
- Arbitration and the Olympic Athlete
- Competition Law, Free Movement of Players, and Nationality Restrictions
- Athlete Trademarks: Names, Nicknames, and Catchphrases
- Trade Secrets and Information Security in the Age of Sports Analytics
- The Role of Bioethics in Sports Law
- The Rooney Rule’s Reach: How the NFL’s Equal Opportunity Initiative for Coaches Inspired Local Government Reform
- Sports in the Context of Social Media Law
- Public Development for Professional Sports Stadiums
- Daily Fantasy Sports and PASPA: How to Assess Whether the State Regulation of Daily Fantasy Sports Contests Violates Federal Law
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter explores the legal authority of professional sports league commissioners to govern owners of teams. Commissioners and owners are motivated by often complementary, but occasionally disparate, sets of incentives. When friction between a commissioner and owner surfaces, key contractual covenants establish the relevant duties and responsibilities for dispute resolution. Whether, and to what degree, a commissioner and owner invoke those covenants is not always predictable or seemingly logical. To illustrate, this chapter details the turbulent yet lengthy tenure of Donald Sterling as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. By analyzing the Donald Sterling saga, this chapter reveals the legal boundaries and contextual dimensions of commissioner authority over team owners.
Keywords: league constitution, collective bargaining agreement, waiver of recourse, arbitration, professional sports league, franchise relocation, breach of contract
Michael A. McCann is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Law and Director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Handbooks Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can''t find the answer there, please contact us.
- The Oxford Handbook of American Sports Law
- About the Editor
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- Introduction: American Sports Law Through Deflategate
- The Evolution of the Power of the Commissioner in Professional Sports
- Leagues and Owners: The Donald Sterling Story
- The Commissioner’s Power to Discipline Players for On- and Off-Field Misconduct
- The Regulation of Doping in U.S. and International Sports
- Drugs in Professional Sports
- Blood Sports in an Age of Liability
- Sports and American Tort Law
- The Increasing Role of Disability Issues in U.S. Sports Law
- Collective Bargaining and Workforce Protections in Sports
- Collective Bargaining in Professional Sports: The Duel Between Players and Owners and Labor Law and Antitrust Law
- The Single-Entity Doctrine of Antitrust as Applied to Sports Leagues
- Eligibility Rules in Professional Sports
- Athlete Representation
- Identity and Speech in Sports in the Social Media Era
- The “Shifting Line” of Sports Betting Legalization
- The Enduring Power of the Sports Broadcasting Act
- Youth and High School Sports Law Issues
- College Athletics: The Growing Tension Between Amateurism and Commercialism
- Title IX and U.S. College Sports: Contemporary Challenges to Compliance
- Recreational Sports Law
- Arbitration and the Olympic Athlete
- Competition Law, Free Movement of Players, and Nationality Restrictions
- Athlete Trademarks: Names, Nicknames, and Catchphrases
- Trade Secrets and Information Security in the Age of Sports Analytics
- The Role of Bioethics in Sports Law
- The Rooney Rule’s Reach: How the NFL’s Equal Opportunity Initiative for Coaches Inspired Local Government Reform
- Sports in the Context of Social Media Law
- Public Development for Professional Sports Stadiums
- Daily Fantasy Sports and PASPA: How to Assess Whether the State Regulation of Daily Fantasy Sports Contests Violates Federal Law
- Index
