Practicum in Sports Law

Students enrolled in our Practicum in Sports Law will tackle various topics within the cutting-edge Sport Law realm, including Name, Image & Likeness deals, Player Injury & Concussion projects, as well as the local Buffalo Bills Stadium project.

Projects

Buffalo Bills Stadium Project

UB School of Law’s Buffalo Bills Stadium Project is designed to help students explore and develop transaction skills while serving as support the County. Under the direction of faculty from Law, students have the opportunity to work with the Erie County Attorney’s Office. Students will conduct research, draft client memoranda, and respond to questions during the course of the County’s efforts to construct a new facility in conjunction with New York State and the Buffalo Bills.

Work in this project will involve:

  1. Analysis and comparison of recent NFL stadium renovation and construction projects and relevant leases;
  2. Reviewing project documents and preparing summaries to
    a) provide easily comprehended, detailed information for dissemination to the public; and
    b) correct existing misconceptions about project details; and
  3. Reviewing and assess the terms of the Community Benefits Agreement entered into as part of the larger transaction, including comparing its impact and scope to other, similar agreements.

Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) Project

UB School of Law’s Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) Project is designed to help students explore and develop licensing, policy making and client counseling skills while serving as support for the UB Athletic Department. Under the direction of law faculty, students will have the opportunity to work with Athletic Department representatives, including specific administrators in Compliance. Students will conduct research, draft client memoranda, and respond to issues arising during the course of the Athletic Department’s efforts to comply with the new New York State NIL legislation, NCAA and Mid-America Conference (MAC) regulation, and other state NIL legislation to the extent applicable.

Work in this project will involve:

  1. Analysis and comparison of recent NIL legislation across multiple jurisdictions;
  2. Researching and assessing policies and protocols adopted by other Division I institutions;
  3. Developing specific programming to meet the requirements of the New York State NIL legislation;
  4. Creating a compliance system to document the implementation of the programming described in #3;
  5. Researching and analyzing the various third party options available for NIL deals in terms of their value and compliance with relevant legislation and regulation;
  6. Identifying existing UB licensing/branding arrangements and the extent to which they impact UB’s capacity to engage with student-athletes in NIL transactions; and
  7. Researching and analyzing existing collectives which seek to compensate student-athletes, focusing upon:
    a) the value such groups may bring to the University and/or the student-athlete; and
    b) Any and all compliance, legal or other issues arising from such arrangements

Player Injury Project

UB School of Law’s Player Injury Project is designed to help students explore various aspects of player injury data with the objective of developing policy and potentially legislation to improve player participation experience, reduce player injuries and ultimately decrease associated litigation. Under the direction of law faculty, students will have the opportunity to work with Athletic Department, School of Medicine and School of Public Health representatives, including specifically physicians and athletic trainers, as well as Athletic Department administrators. Students will conduct research, draft client memoranda, and respond to issues arising during the course of collaborative efforts to identify best practices.

Work in this project will involve:

  1. Analysis and comparison of rules or policies regulating types of athletic participation and/or training, such as the Ivy League’s restriction upon contact practices in football;
  2. Researching and assessing the outcome of legislation limiting contact football participation in youth;
  3. Researching the impact of different types of playing surfaces upon player injuries;
  4. Determining the extent to which collective bargaining in professional sports has been able to adequately address the concerns identified in #3;
  5. Identifying the legal ramifications of the concerns identified in #3 upon youth and collegiate level athletics;
  6. Determining how to address the legal ramifications identified in #5;
  7. Researching the relationship of “player load” to injury potential and developing best practices at the youth, collegiate and professional level to reduce legal liability and improve participant experience; and
  8. Examine the relationship between reported incidents of domestic violence, erratic and/or criminal behavior and other potential signs of frontal lobe damage and documented head injuries to assess the need for revised traumatic brain injury (concussion) management legislation.