- 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 examines how civil liability assessments and criminal convictions have affected the legality of blood sports. Blood sports can be divided into three categories: human versus human contests, human versus animal sports, and animal versus animal fighting. For over a century, blood sports have been under both social and legal attack, resulting in significant changes in most of the historic forms of combat worldwide. The chapter begins with an overview of the most popular violent sports today, including contact sports such as American football and ice hockey. It then considers criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits that arise from contact sports, including the “concussion suits” filed on behalf of athletes who suffered head injuries. It also discusses the doctrine of assumption of risk in sports and concludes with an analysis of how legislative intervention can obviate private tort liability for latent, chronic injuries to the brain of players.
Keywords: civil liability, blood sports, violent sports, contact sports, criminal prosecutions, civil lawsuits, concussion suits, head injuries, assumption of risk, tort liability
Jeffrey Standen is Dean and Professor of Law at Northern Kentucky University.
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- 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