76002 Sports Law

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

UTS: Law
Credit points: 6 cp
Result type: Grade and marks

Requisite(s): (70211 Contracts AND 70311 Torts) OR ((94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04236 Juris Doctor OR 142 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04250 Juris Doctor Master of Business Administration OR 94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04363 Juris Doctor Master of Intellectual Property OR 94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04364 Juris Doctor Graduate Certificate Trade Mark Law and Practice) AND 70106c Principles of Public International Law AND 70107c Principles of Company Law) OR (94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04320 Juris Doctor Graduate Certificate Professional Legal Practice AND 70106 Principles of Public International Law)
The lower case 'c' after the subject code indicates that the subject is a corequisite. See definitions for details.
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses. See access conditions.

Description

The law of sport and recreation is a commercial law subject. This is to be expected in an industry that is a major economic driver, generating revenue in the billions of dollars each year in Australia. Indeed, with the rise of the digital media, internationalisation and the increasing recognition of female competitions, sport is one of the world's fastest growing enterprises. With that growth comes a recognition of how the law guides and affects the business of sport and, in consequence, a growing demand for lawyers with pertinent expertise. Major sporting events such as an Australian grand final or an international fixture rely on legal advice touching on areas as diverse as event management, marketing and intellectual property, the avoidance of tortious law suits and on-field criminal assaults. Moreover, the public interest and financial stakes involved in sport disputes often leads to litigation within a few weeks of a cause of action arising. The increasing number of law journals in North America and Europe publishing on legal developments in sport is testament to the growing interest in and importance of the law of sport.

Within the broad areas of legal interest listed, a number of specific issues may arise, for example: what rights of appeal exist for non-selected athletes; prosecution for corruption and doping; athlete liability for off-field misconduct; to whom do team doctors owe their duty of care; are athletes illegally exploited by major sporting organisations; are sporting disciplinary tribunals entitled to cancel an athlete's contract; how should a sporting organisation deal with claims of discrimination; are coaches and clubs legally liable for the actions of their athletes; is it legal to exclude an athlete or member of the public from a sporting venue; when is a referee legally liable in tort?

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

1.	Appreciate the impact law has on the industry of sport and identify and critically analyse the legal, integrity and governance issues sporting organisations and athletes face;
2.	Identify and evaluate links between the sports law content and other areas of law;
3.	Construct clear, original and persuasive oral and written arguments that are supported by research and textual readings;
4.	Demonstrate effective oral communication skills by: <br> a. discussing and debating course concepts in a scholarly, reflective and respectful manner; and <br> b. delivering accurate and insightful contributions in class.

Teaching and learning strategies

Strategy 1: Preparation for interactive Seminars.

The seminars in Sports Law are interactive. To gain the full benefit of this form of seminar requires students to prepare each week ready to participate in the class. Your learning will be most effective when you are actively engaged in the learning process. Therefore, all students undertaking sports law are encouraged to prepare before class and actively participate in class. The value of interactive learning and teaching lies in its encouragement of higher order thinking skills such as critical analysis and evaluation. These are part of the subject objectives identified above. Each week, prior to seminars, materials such as cases, legislation, commentary and audio visual resources that students need to study and reflect on will be placed on Canvas by the seminar leader.

During the interactive seminar the prepared material will be discussed and debated with resources such as video and media articles used to stimulate class involvement. With pre-class preparation, students will be able to identify a legal issue, apply the law to that issue, argue and debate in the seminar in respect to that issue, and offer a legal opinion as to the likely outcome. Students will be encouraged to bring to class media items collected during the week relevant to the subject and lead discussion of those issues.

As noted above, sport, as a visual enterprise, lends itself to analysis of legal issues through video presentation and media commentary. A great advantage of this subject is that while the law is often complex, the facts to which the law is to apply are readily discernible and understandable.

Strategy 2: Interactive seminars

Interactive seminars aim to enhance the ability of students to develop high order skills such as analysis, evaluation and the application of law to facts, all of which are required to become an effective legal practitioner. Students will practice these skills through class discussion and collaborative activities which enable them to identify and explain the key principles of sports law, analyse how those principles operate, and apply these principles in resolving legal problems associated with sport. Interactive seminars are most effective when students prepare for the seminar and are able to offer legal and factual insights into the points made by the lecturer and other students.

Strategy 3: Expert guest presentations in the area of sport and the law

Guest presentations by current practitioners will also be arranged and provide students with the opportunity to evaluate such things as the adequacy of sports law in dealing with emerging legal problems and to understand the perspectives of key stakeholders. Students are encouraged to actively engage with guest speakers by asking questions and challenging ideas.

Strategy 4: Learning through engagement in seminars

Each week, students will engage in seminar discussion led by peers, critically analyzing articles and cases pertinent to Sports Law. Oral communication skills are developed via leading discussion and providing feedback to fellow students who may be leading discussion in a particular week. Students may seek immediate feedback from tutors to refine their understanding of key and contentious issues in Sports Law. Independent preparation for seminars is encouraged so as to maximize seminar engagement, particularly for students leading discussion, who must submit a summary of their oral presentation two days prior to their presentation to the lecturer; summaries will also be made available on Canvas to benefit fellow students.

Strategy 5: Feedback

Feedback is essential to a student’s continuous improvement throughout the subject. Opportunities for feedback, including early feedback, are provided by the lecturer and peers via engagement in seminar discussion. Further immediate feedback will be provided by the lecturer to each student on their class participation performance after the third seminar.

Subject Delivery

The subject is delivered in the form of interactive seminars

Content (topics)

The content of the subject will be on the following topics:

Player Contracts and Player Liability:

• Contract: breach, selection and injury
• Athlete and player agents
• Criminal Law
• Civil liability
• Taxation: Image Rights

Discrete Legal Topics:

• Intellectual Property and Sport
• Restraint of Trade and Anti-Competitive Practices in Sport
• Marketing, the Law and Sport
• Discrimination in Sport

Sports Integrity:

• Misconduct, punishment and termination
• Doping in Sport
• Corruption and Gambling
• Disciplinary and Other Internal Proceedings

Emerging Topics:

• eSports
• Professionalisation of Women’s Sport

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Class Presentation and Participation

Objective(s):	This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2 and 3 This task contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes: LAW.3.1, LAW.4.1 and LAW.5.1
Weight:	40%
Length:	1000
Criteria:	Assessment Criteria for oral presentation and written summary Marks regarding the presentation will be allocated according to: The capacity of the student to communicate (in all its forms), including clarity and brevity Quality of critical analysis Relevance of related material used to inform the presentation The ability to encourage class involvement The ability to answer questions from the floor Enthusiasm for their work. Assessment Criteria for class participation willingness and ability to contribute succinctly and usefully to class discussion reflecting critically on the course materials, seminars and the views of others expressed during class discussion. ability to raise pertinent, genuine, thoughtful and succinct questions/issues. It is clear when students raise issues or ask questions for the sole purpose of boosting class participation grades. This is strongly discouraged. ability to be attentive during lectures, student presentations, guest lectures and debates. ability to contribute to the overall intellectual quality of the seminar cohort, engaging with presenters, guest speakers and debaters. Given that the assessment involves a class presentation which in turn requires an audience to listen, participate and encourage by their presence, the minimum attendance required of individual students will be set at 80% of all classes. Of course, class members should attend all, not merely 80% of sessions, to enhance their learning and to support their fellow students. A similar observation can be made regarding the lectures.

Assessment task 2: Group Debate

Objective(s):	This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2, 3 and 4 This task contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes: LAW.3.1, LAW.4.1 and LAW.5.1
Weight:	20%
Length:	Details for the Negotiation Assessment to be provided on Canvas.
Criteria:	Marks regarding the debate will be allocated according to: Content and style of delivery. Critical analysis of the topic supported by legal and factual research. Originality and creativity of arguments. Ability to comprehend and effectively respond to the opposing teams’ arguments.

Assessment task 3: Sports Tribunal Submissions

Objective(s):	This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 3, 4 and 5 This task contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes: LAW.3.1, LAW.4.1 and LAW.5.1
Weight:	40%
Length:	Oral submissions - 500 words (equivalent)
Criteria:	Content, quality and persuasiveness of the written and oral submissions. Delivery of the oral submissions and ability to effectively answer any questions posed by the Tribunal.

Required texts

None

Recommended texts

Please note that there is not a reccomended text for this course. Content for each week will come from articles, podcast and videos that are posted on Blackboard in the Seminar Materials folder.

Other resources

Consider joining ANZSLA to gain access to a large number of resources. Student discounts apply to membership. see <www.anzsla.com.au>

Go to "Heinonline through the UTS library website. A large number of sports law journals can be found in the alphabetical listings, including: Marquette Journal of Sports Law, Seaton Hall Journal of Sports Law, Sports Lawyers Journal, Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, Virginia Arts and Entertainment Law Journal

Many other specialist journals (eg Crime, Intellectual Property) carry sports related articles.