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OK.  So, I am stretching a bit here.  But yoga may be considered a sport, athletic clothing is a kind of fashion, and securities fraud prohibitions and corporate director fiduciary duty involve law.  So, I stand by my blog title in the face of any criticism that may follow this post.

I do yoga four times a week when I am not traveling.  I also work out, sometimes on days when I am not doing yoga.  So, I have a fair number of pieces of yoga wear and other athletic clothing.  This means that I get regular mail and email solicitations from the firms that purvey these clothing items.

I recently received a catalog from one of my favorite athletic clothing brands, Sweaty Betty, which I discovered originally when I was teaching in Cambridge, England in one of our study abroad programs a few years ago.  I noticed, with some amusement, that the new catalog harps on the opacity of the firm’s yoga bottoms or trousers (as the British like to call them).  The website does the same–“100% opaque” labels abound.  As an astute consumer and securities lawyer, I immediately jumped to the conclusion, whether…

As many readers (and all of my friends) know, I am a bit of a sports fan.  Having been a college athlete (field hockey, at Brown University, for trivia buffs), I focus most of my attention on college games.  I even served on The University of Tennessee’s Athletics Board for a few years.  But my Dad and I used to watch professional football and baseball a lot together when I was a kid (still do, when we are in the same place at the right time), so I also maintain a casual interest in professional sports.

I also have an interest in fashion, especially women’s fashion (maybe less well known, except by close friends).  I have friends in the industry and find aspects of it truly fascinating.  I even used to subscribe to Women’s Wear Daily, the fashion industry trade rag.  I am the faculty advisor to the College of Law’s Fashion and Business (FAB) Law student organization.

This personal background is prelude to my interest in two current events stories that I see as parallels.  I am trying to sort them through on a number of levels. Maybe you can help.  Here are the top lines of each story.

  • Last Thursday, the National Football League (NFL) suspended Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for two games, fined him $58,000 dollars, and asked him to seek counseling after its investigation of an incident relating to a video in which Rice was depicted dragging his then-fiance, now wife, by her hair after punching her in the face (allegedly rendering her unconscious).
  • The very same day, American Apparel (AA) announced a new slate of directors who will assume positions on the AA board in early August as a result of investor intervention and a boardroom blood bath following on lagging profits and continuing investigations of allegations of sexual misconduct (most of it, as I understand it, not new news) against AA’s founder and former CEO and director, Dov Charney, whose management roles at the firm were suspended by the board back in June.

Now that I am teaching MBA courses in negotiation, I see negotiations everywhere.

For example, in reading about the extremely interesting NLRB ruling in favor of the Northwestern University football players – holding that the players are “employees” and can unionize – I came across this Sports Illustrated article:  Northwestern ruling sends clear message: NCAA, it’s time to negotiate.

Former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter does a nice job articulating some of the interests from the players’ side of things in this video.

Given this ruling, which will be appealed, and the O’Bannon v. NCAA case which is set for trial on June 9, there is likely to be a great deal of negotiation between the NCAA and players outside of the courtroom over the next few months.  As the cases move closer to potential resolutions in favor of the players, the NCAA’s BATNA (best alternative to a negotiation) weakens.   The NCAA, however, may raise doubts about the players’ BATNA, by raising things like the possible tax implications of a court victory.

These will be complex, multi-party, multi-issue negotiations.  The parties with interests at stake include current and former players, coaches and athletic directors, colleges and universities, the…

Last night Belmont’s men’s basketball team beat a very good UW-Green Bay team 80 to 65 in the first round of the NIT.  Both teams were extremely close to making the NCAA tournament this year. Earlier this year, Belmont beat highly ranked UNC and UW-Greenbay beat ACC-Champs UVA.

[Photos courtsey of Belmont University Basketball]

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Why is Belmont basketball relevant to this blog?

Well, actually, I just wanted to brag on my school’s team, but I will try to make a connection.

Some extremely interesting studies have been done tying atheletic success to increased applications, increased selectivity, and/or higher (academic) rankings.  See, e.g., Jain (Wharton) and Toma & Cross (UMKC & Michigan).  (While my co-blogger Steve Bradford called the U.S. News rankings of law schools “meaningless” earlier this week, even he admitted that rankings influence some student decisions.) 

In a similar study, a personal friend of mine and University of Georgia doctoral candidate, Michael Trivette, co-authored a paper in 2012 with Dennis Kramer (UVA) about the increases in selectivity and accepted student standardized test scores experienced by schools that switched athletic conferences.

Whether the time and money put into college sports is worthwhile makes for heated debate, and…

From Michelle Meyer over at the Faculty Lounge.  Sounds like an interesting position:

In connection with our work on a sponsored research project with the National Football League Players Association, the Petrie-Flom Center seeks to hire a Senior Law and Ethics Associate immediately. (Please note that this is a distinct position from the one we recently advertised working with Harvard Catalyst on clinical and translational research.)

 

We are seeking a full-time doctoral-level hire (J.D., M.D., Ph.D., etc. in law, ethics, public health, social science, or other relevant discipline) with extensive knowledge of and interest in legal and ethical issues related to the health and welfare of professional athletes.  The position will be funded for at least two years, with renewal likely for an additional year or more.

 

View the full job description and apply here. 

 

For questions, contact petrie-flom@law.harvard.edu or 617-496-4662.