Law Over Lunch
March Madness All Year Long: NIL, Employment Contracts, Student Portability, and the Brand New World of College Athletics
Date: April 10, 2025
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Location: Zoom (register here)
Speakers: Steven D. Brown, Esq. & Vernon E. Inge, Jr., Esq.
Contact: Tara Casey
Director, Carrico Center for Pro Bono Service
University of Richmond School of Law
28 Westhampton Way
Richmond, VA 23173
804-287-1207
tcasey@richmond.edu
Description:
The landscape for college sports has been seismically altered within the past ten years. As the revenue generating potential increased from sponsorship, broadcasting, and merchandising deals, the student-athletes themselves recognized that their role was far more valuable than the historical arrangement of scholarship dollars. Players began to seek broader recognition, compensation, and protection. Some schools saw players seeking classification as employees, the ability to unionize, and/or enforcement of workplace protections. With the advent of Name, Image, Likeness contracts available to student-athletes, colleges and universities have had to engage with sports agents and reckon with increased costs to recruit and retain the talent they seek for their programs.
But what are the legal ramifications of this changing landscape? How have these changes affected our understanding of who are legally to be considered employees, students, or something in between? What labor and employment laws apply to these arrangements? And how far will this movement go into other educational settings, such as high schools, and what legal issues could be at issue when technically minors are then involved?
Please join the Carrico Center as we welcome two attorneys on the forefront of these issues: Steven Brown (IslerDare) and Vern Inge (Whiteford, Taylor, & Preston), as they explain the contract, labor, and employment laws central to this issue and prognosticate on the game plan for the future.
(1.5 CLE credits pending)