pittsburghsportsdailybulletin – Page 128 – Welcome to Steelers Takeaways!

Rodney Bailey, Steelers Defensive Lineman, 2001-2003, 2006

First, can you let readers know what you are doing with yourself since the NFL and how you got started in your post-NFL career?

I’m the regional director for Visalus. I’ve been doing that since I’ve been out of the NFL. Before that I was on tv – the New Network’s Average Joe and the Wall to Wall Sports Show, a local show in Columbus, Ohio.

Can you let readers know more about Visalus?

The VISALUS 90 DAY CHALLENGE is the number one weight-loss and fitness platform in North America. This program is endorsed by celebrities from all walks of life, including, Jessica Biel (actress) Ray Lewis (athlete), Khris Humphries (athlete), Hulk Hogan (athlete/actor), LisaRaye McCord (actress), Master P (rapper), Alfonso Ribiero (actor), Taylor Armstrong (reality show, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills).

Continue reading “Rodney Bailey, Steelers Defensive Lineman, 2001-2003, 2006”

Nigel Melville, CEO/President President Rugby Operations, USA Rugby

Nigel Melville, CEO & President Rugby Operations, USA Rugby:

First, can you tell readers how you became the CEO for USARugby and what your main roles are for the organization?

I joined USA Rugby in 2007 as CEO and President of Rugby Operations. That pretty much covers oversight of all aspects of the game.

I am fortunate that I have an excellent staff and can now focus on the next steps for the organization. We started by developing strong youth and high school programs thru State Based Rugby Organizations, we are developing College Conferences now and looking to enhance the Club game. At the High Performance end of the game we have men’s and women’s elite age grade teams and improving National teams.

What are the “next steps” for USARugby – what are some of the organizations biggest goals over the next few years and what steps are you taking to realize them?

Rio 2016 is probably our biggest challenge now that Rugby has returned to the Olympic Games. We now have full time sevens players (Men and Women) training at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego, they are now attending more and more events as they develop their squads ahead of Olympic qualification. That’s a pretty big goal for us all!

The other goals revolve around increasing visibility for the game in the media and on TV, and of course developing a professional game for our athletes..

How has having been a former coach of Gloucester (England) and the captain of the England National team in the 80’s helped you in your role?

Obviously having been an international player and professional coach has helped me understand the challenges of becoming an elite player and what it will take to make our National Teams competitive.

Off the field, I spent a number of years with Nike and that experience is certainly helping us re-craft our brand and explore opportunities for us to continue to grow.

What have been the biggest challenges in getting people to adopt the sport early in the states, and how can they do so?

The challenge is to get people to understand that a sustainable future for the game will come from a strong youth game, that we have to build the game and there are no quick fixes..that has been tried and hasn’t worked – so plant the seeds (get a ball in the hands of kids), be patient, nurture (coach them) and eventually reap the harvest (strong international teams).

How has the Pittsburgh area adopted the sport of rugby so far and what big inroads can/will you make to continue to grow interest?

Yes, Rugby is all around you and in Pittsburgh you have an awesome rugby facility that we have used for some of our National College and High School events. The rugby community is passionate and they understand the need to build their programs – they are doing a great job!

How does rugby in the states differ from that of your experiences in England and other countries?

Rugby is a global game with over 115 Countries playing the game, so every country has its own challenges – usually related to the weather and availability of facilities, and both are issues here of course.

As with all rugby people, we are pretty resourceful and make it work! Our field is very similar to soccer fields, so this helps, we prefer grass to turf, but we can play on either. The biggest challenge is helping people to understand the game.

Yes, we are a contact sport and no we don’t wear helmets, but we develop good technique, use our arms to wrap in the tackle, keep our heads off the body and this helps us stay safe. In football the head has become a weapon and that’s dangerous…we don’t do that!

Tell readers about US Rugby – how has it changed over the years and what are your expectations for this season?

We have grown steadily, our game used to be a club based game outside college with often a poor reputation on college campuses, not too much high school rugby and no youth programs. That has changed and we are experiencing explosive growth in some key areas. We have some way to go, but we are building a solid base for the game.

One interesting development has been our new coach registration program that trains our coaches in all aspects of player safety and concussion recognition. We want to provide a safe environment for our athletes when they train and when they play.

We also introduced Rookie Rugby in 2008, a non contact game for boys and girls that has far-reaching opportunities for our Countries youth. Rookie Rugby puts a ball in the hands of a young player and they run – fast!! Great fun and great for kids fitness – the anti-obesity issues are a concern for us all – Rookie Rugby will play its part.

Tell readers a bit about the in-person experience as a fan? How does it differ from other sports?

Our recent international against Italy in June where over 17,200 fans joined us to watch the USA Eagles Men play Italy in the BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston. I think that gives you an idea about what the vent looks like – its played in MLS Soccer type stadiums, the fan experience includes everything the American Sports fan is looking for – tough athletes and plenty of contact, great food, entertainment and merchandise.

What you will also find are fans that support their teams but recognize and respect their opponents ‘on and off the field’, we are one big global family – one of the world’s ultimate team sports where team spirit, loyalty, commitment and mutual respect are as essential to the game as the ball itself!

I’m sure you’ve seen the issues with concussions in other sports. How is rugby dealing with the issue of concussions and the physical nature of the sport in general?

Yes of course all sports are concerned about concussions and we are certainly making our sport as safe as we possibly can. Our coaches all take on online concussion recognition course, understand that there is nothing ‘tough’ about keeping people in play if they show any concussion symptoms and we take these symptoms very seriously indeed.

The game of rugby globally has been trialing a new rule that allows a coach /referee to take a player out of the game for ten minutes to get a player assessed if there is any suspicion that they may not be OK. This trial is working well and I think it will be introduced across the game shortly.

What do you think would surprise readers who are newer to the sport of rugby most about the sport?

How some of the values that sport traditionally held are alive and well in rugby today despite so many changes to sport at every level. Probably the most important is mutual respect for everyone involved in the game. We still call our referees ‘sir’, we respect our opponents and spend time with them after the game, develop lasting friendships, support each other on and off the field, value team spirit and are committed to helping the next generation embrace and understand these important values. How refreshing.

Any last thoughts for readers?

If you get the chance to watch a game, do it..you will enjoy the whole experience!!

Jim O’Brien: Rocky Bleier remains a great comeback story

Rocky Bleier remains a great comeback story

By Jim O’Brien From Pittsburgh Business Times

When Rocky Bleier was a standout running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers when they won four Super Bowls in six seasons in the ‘70s, he recalls Coach Chuck Noll advising the players to prepare themselves for their post-football careers or, as Noll called it, “their life’s work.”

Bleier didn’t realize it at the time but his life, or at least his life story, would become his “life’s work.”

He played 12 seasons with the Steelers and got into the investment business with teammate Andy Russell while still employed by the Steelers. He retired after the 1980 season, and became a sports broadcaster with WPXI-TV, but he wasn’t very good at it.

So he started spending more time telling his comeback story from being wounded by bullets and shrapnel from an exploding grenade in a rice paddy in Vietnam, and being told he might not walk again, to becoming a star running back with Franco Harris for one of the greatest football teams in National Football League history.

Bleier’s comeback story is one of the best in sports annals and remains a compelling story of how determination and persistence can win out in the end over overwhelming odds. Bleier wasn’t big or fast, at 5-10, 210 pounds, but he found a way to be part of a winning team. “They don’t measure the size of the heart at these player evaluation camps,” Coach Noll liked to say.

It surprises even Bleier that he is still as successful as a motivational speaker, making about 60 to 70 appearances around the country annually. Gloria Ashcraft is his assistant and runs Rocky Bleier, Inc., and sets his speaking schedule and travel arrangements. “She has been with me for 26 years,” says Bleier, “and she’s the best in the business.”

The challenge of being on the road so much has gotten greater as he approaches his 67^th birthday on March 5. “You can’t get a direct flight to most cities out of Pittsburgh these days,” he says.

His theme is “Be the Best You Can Be,” and it’s a 70-minute program aimed at inspiring his audience to realize their potential. He’s good at it, and he’s even better before and after the way he works the room.

“It’s what you do before and after that really makes the difference,” says Bleier. He confesses that he has always wanted everyone to like him, and he has always worked hard at realizing that goal. “My parents ran a restaurant and bar back home in Appleton, Wisconsin,” he says, “and I learned early how to take care of the customers and keep them happy and coming back for more.”

He has expanded his business activities in recent years. He is a managing member of RBVetCo LLC; a service disabled veteran- owned small business, a general contractor that bids work in both the private sector as well as federal government. Rocky is responsible for overall direction and business development.

His brothers-in-law, Jim and John Gyurina, sit on the board of directors. They are also involved with a sister company, Natural Office Solutions LLC, a company that sells commercial office furniture. There’s also Bleier/Zagula Financial, so Bleier is as busy as he wants to be.

He says that Chuck Noll remains in his mind and is still with him. “I find myself quoting Chuck and his philosophies,” says Bleier, while looking after his two teenage daughters at their home in Mt.Lebanon when his wife, Jan, was away in London with a niece who was doing college study abroad.

“Things Chuck always said come back to you; they help you in other tasks besides football. It’s amazing the impact your coaches and teachers have on you throughout your life. I was fortunate that I had important people in my life who made a difference.”

Bleier offers these suggestions for success:

Set goals and form a game plan that will help accomplish them. Do things with great passion. Overcome adversity. Maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses. Work as a team. Learn from winners and mentors. Do community work; it will not only make you feel good, it will show you to be a person worth hiring. Prepare early for your life’s work.”

And, of course, be the best you can be.

Jim O’Brien’s book “Immaculate Reflections” is available at all area book stores, and on his website www.jimobriensportsauthor.com

Don Alley, Steelers Wide Receiver, 1969

First, can you let readers know what you’ve been doing with yourself since your time in the NFL?

After getting injured in Canada in 1971, I came back to Colorado and worked with my fathers construction company for about three years, but my love for golf lured me into the PGA apprentice program in 1974 and I spent about 25 years as a club golf professional. I got out of the business in 2001 and have been kind of semi-retired since.

You started in the NFL in 1967 with the Baltimore Colts. As a 16th round pick from a small school (Adams State) how did you prove yourself to the coaches to make the team?

I was a very similar receiver to Raymond Berry who was somewhat successful for a few years, and I think that because of his success, I might have got a little longer look than I would have otherwise. I did have a good work ethic, and wasn’t afraid to spend my time on the “special teams”

Continue reading “Don Alley, Steelers Wide Receiver, 1969”

Alex Hicks, Penguins Left Winger, 1996-1998

Alex Hicks:

First, can you let readers know about your job at the Desert Youth Hockey Association in Phoenix – how you got started and what you like most as a coach?

I am an assistant hockey director at DYHA. My responsibility is to communicate with all of the associations coaches and managers about scheduling, tournaments, concussion awareness and testing, hockey operations and strategies. I began coaching when my three kids took up hockey. I did not want to at first because I wanted them to learn the game on their own. I soon found out that I was needed on the ice and I began helping right away. I have loved every minute of it.

How difficult has it been to drum up interest in hockey in the Phoenix area and how have you done so?

Hockey is very popular in Phoenix. Phoenix has had a professional team in the city at various levels since the early 70’s. There are countless people who have moved here from hockey hotbed cities like Chicago and Detroit. It is not difficult to get people involved.

As a coach, who are some of the players and coaches that most influenced your coaching style today, and how so?

The coach that most influenced me was Kevin Constantine as he was a stickler for details.. He was very demanding to play for but ultimately he was fair. I find myself molding into a version of him. I also try to use my success and struggles as a player to teach the players I coach valuable hockey and life lessons..

You were traded to the Penguins from Anaheim in ’96. How difficult was that for you and how did you adjust?

It was very difficult at first as I was new to the league and just starting to feel comfortable in Anaheim. I loved playing for the Ducks and I felt that I was a great fit for them. That all changed when I got to Pitt and I was welcomed right away by both the team and city.

I loved Pittsburgh and it was a sad day for me when I left.

How would you describe yourself as a player and how did you mesh with that Penguins roster?

I was a hard working tenacious player. I played as hard as possible and was always there to help my teammates. I was a typical blue collar type worker and I really fit in well with the team and city.

Who were some of the biggest characters on that Penguins team and what made them so? Any examples of the hijinks/personalities on that team?

I always admired Jaromir Jagr for how good he was. I don’t think he ever got the credit for how hard he worked off the ice because he lifted weight after every game we played. He always had a smile on his face and he kept the mood light.

At the time he was the best player in the league and I thought that was cool.

That turned out to be the year of Mario Lemieux’s first retirement. How was that received by the players and staff – what was the effect the announcement and his health had on the team?

Mario was always quiet and reserved. When he did speak however, we all listened. His announcement came as a shock to all of us and left a great deal of uncertainty moving forward. Ultimately Ron Francis took control of the team the next year and did a great job leading us to a successful season.

That year, Eddie Johnston was released near the end of the season and General Manager Craig Patrick took over as coach. How did the players react to that move – especially with the GM now being your coach?

It was stressful when all that came down. Eddie was a players coach and let us figure most things out ourselves. The guys on the team loved him. When he was fired there was a great deal of remorse on the players part that we let him down.

Craig was very easy to play for and the transition was fine. We just ran into a horrible matchup for the playoffs..

There’s a great deal of movement between leagues and cities for hockey players. How does that affect you – both on and off the ice – as a player?

You just get used to it… You learn to never get too comfortable…

What is the biggest misperception you think fans have about hockey players and the sport itself?

I don’t think there is too much of a misperception. We are all just regular guys playing a great sport. The fans always seemed to relate with us real well.

What are your favorite memories of your time in Pittsburgh?

My favorite memory in Pittsburgh was my first game with the team after I was traded. I played on a line with Mario and Jagr.. Wow…

Dennis Hughes, Steelers Tight End, 1970-1971

First, can you let readers know what you’ve been doing with yourself since your time in the NFL and how you got started in your post-NFL career?

Now, I’m unable to do much of anything. I’m a good bit disabled. My back is not in good shape. My knee was replaced. I had a disk taken out…screws in my back. I take it day-to-day…that’s how I feel.

Are these all football related injuries?

They are all football related, yes. A lot of them have to do with the field in Pittsburgh then. It was the worst field in the game, and then I went to the second worst stadium in the NFL after Pittsburgh in Houston. I played in the two worst fields in my two and a half years. I guess it wore me out….

Continue reading “Dennis Hughes, Steelers Tight End, 1970-1971”

Ray Snell, Steelers Offensive Lineman, 1984-1985

First, can you let readers know what you have been doing with yourself since your time in the NFL?

I wake up at 4:15 every morning to work out!

I’m the project manager for the Tampa Bay Housing Authority. There are three of us on staff so I’m always very busy. I’ve been there the past three years. This is my second stint – I was there before as the Assistant Director of Operations. When the state of Florida reduced the staff my job ended, but I came back with Tampa Housing authority as a project manager.

My father owned a construction company growing up – so that was always a part of my life as a youngster and that helped get me interested in being prepared for the role as well.

Continue reading “Ray Snell, Steelers Offensive Lineman, 1984-1985”

Jason Gildon, Steelers Linebacker, 1994-2003

First, can you let readers know about how you got started in coaching?

I started off in high school coaching when a friend of mine and me started talking at a parent-teacher conference. He was also the teacher of my son who was in fourth grade. He was looking at a coaching job and told me the high school also had another open spot and that he mentioned I may be interested. That was at Peters Township.

Who and what helped influence your coaching style?

I think a big part of the coach I wanted to be was influenced by having good coaches growing up. I remember all of my coaches – from high school to my position coaches in college and at the professional level. As a young kid, having men like that as positive influences is a great help.

Continue reading “Jason Gildon, Steelers Linebacker, 1994-2003”

Rohn Stark, Steelers Punter, 1995

First, can you let readers know what you are doing with yourself since your time in the NFL including Platinum Properties HAWAII and how you got started in this post-NFL direction?

I went to my first pro bowl after the 1986 season and feel in love with Hawaii, specifically Maui. I played my 16 year career dreaming of retiring here. Upon retiring from the NFL in 1998 my wife Ann and I moved our family to Maui. I quickly began buying property as investments and found I had a knack for the real estate business.

You were Baltimore’s second round draft pick in ’82 as a punter. That’s a very high pick for a punter – why do you think Baltimore selected you so high in the draft and were you surprised?

Not really. I was projected to go very early. Dallas called me prior to draft and said they would use their second round pick on me if I was committed to playing football. I was world-ranked in the decathlon at the time so there was a question if I would continue training for the ’84 Olympics instead of playing in the NFL.

Continue reading “Rohn Stark, Steelers Punter, 1995”

Matt Mitten, Director of the National Sports Law Institute

Matt Mitten, Director of the National Sports Law Institute:

First, can you tell readers how the National Sports Law Institute got started and what its mission is?

Founded in 1989, the National Sports Law Institute (NSLI) of Marquette University Law School is the first Institute of its kind associated with an American law school. The Institute’s Mission is to be the leading national educational and research institute for the study of legal, ethical and business issues affecting amateur and professional sports from an academic and practical perspective.

The Institute sponsors local and national events including conferences and symposia for individuals in the sports industry, and disseminates information on the sports industry and sports law through its many publications, such as the Marquette Sports Law Review. As a part of Marquette University, a Catholic Jesuit University, the Institute is committed to searching for truth, discovering and sharing information, fostering professional excellence, developing leaders, and serving those in the sports industry.

The Institute is also affiliated with the Marquette University Law School Sports Law program, which provides the nation’s most comprehensive offering of sports law courses and student internships with local sports organizations as well as opportunities to become members of the Marquette Sports Law Review and National Sports Law Moot Court team. With the assistance of the Directors of the Institute, the Sports Law Program is designed to provide Marquette University Law School students with both a theoretical and practical education covering the legal regulation of amateur and professional sports industries, thereby enhancing their attractiveness to sports industry employers. Students who meet certain requirements before graduating from Marquette University Law School are also eligible to receive a Sports Law Certificate from the National Sports Law Institute.

The National Sports Law Institute is aided by its Board of Advisors. The Board of Advisors is a group of sports lawyers, sports industry executives and professionals, sports law professors and teachers, and others with a demonstrated interest in the field of sports law. The primary duties of the members of the Board of Advisors are: 1) to contribute to the advancement of knowledge regarding legal, ethical, and business issues affecting the sports industries; 2) to provide advice and guidance on matters affecting Marquette University Law School’s Sports Law Program; 3) to attend NSLI events and to participate in the governance of the NSLI; and 4) to assume other duties and responsibilities (including service on committees) that further the NSLI’s best interests.

For a listing of our Board members, see https://law.marquette.edu/national-sports-law-institute/board-advisors

How did you personally get involved with the institute and what are some of your goals for the NSLI in the upcoming years?

I’ve been the NSLI’s Director since August of 1999.

You may be surprised to know that I never took a sports law course in law school! There was a class when I was in law school but even though I was a big sports fan I didn’t take it – I thought it wasn’t something I would use in my professional career.

I became an antitrust, trademark, and commercial lawyer at a major firm in Atlanta and my first project was sports related. I had a client who was putting on an old-timers baseball game for former major league players. I helped the company federally register its trademark. I also did some work for a company that was considering licensing its trademark to shoulder pad manufacturer that had some products liability concerns if it did so as well as represented a Howard Johnsons franchisee that showed a Detroit Lions home game that was supposed to be blacked out. So, I dabbled in sports law before entering the academic world.

When I began teaching at South Texas College of Law in 1990, the Dean asked me to develop a sports law course in response to students’ interest. While at South Texas, I was one of the lawyers that represented Harris County, which owns the Astrodome, in litigation arising out of the Houston Oilers efforts to relocate to Nashville before the club’s lease expired. My initial sports law scholarship focused on sports medicine legal issues, including the role of the team physician and doping issues. I was there for ten years, then got a call from Marquette Law School inviting me to interview for my current position. I had never been to Milwaukee, but was fortunate enough to be offered the job.

Marquette Law School offers fourteen sports law courses – more than any other school in the world. It’s one of only two U.S. law schools to offer a sports law certificate. Several of our Sports Law program alumni, including the general counsel of the Atlanta Braves, the athletic director of the University of Miami and a number of university athletic department compliance directors, are employed in the sports industry. .

However, there are relatively few entry level sports industry jobs for young lawyers, and only a small number of graduates are employed full-time in sports law immediately after graduation. Most of them are lawyers who represent clients in other industries, but the knowledge of numerous law (e.g., contract, antitrust, labor, and intellectual property) and skills (e.g. , contract negotiation and drafting) they learned from Marquette’s Sports Law program are readily transferable.

The NSLI holds a sports law conference every year – the upcoming one on October 19^th is on international and professional sports legal and business issues – covering issues like doping and corruption. The NSLI provides a forum for discussion of current legal, business, and ethical issues impacting the industry. It also periodically gives its Master of the Game Award to individuals who make a significant contribution to the sports industry while doing so in an ethical manner. This year’s recipient will be David Howman, the Director General of the World Anti-doping Agency.

The NSLI has a fifty-person Board of Advisors – including Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig who helped fund the institute and now teaches at Marquette. I’ve had the pleasure of co-teaching Professional Sports Law with Bud Selig for the past four years. He gives a series of lectures to our students and is always well-prepared and loves teaching. He’s been in the industry forty-plus years – to hear his perspective is phenomenal.

What would you like to achieve in the next few years?

I’d like our Sports Law program to continue providing the best possible education to those aspiring to be future sports lawyers and for the NSLI, which is Marquette’s bridge to the sports industry, to continue providing a forum for a balanced discussion of the most important legal issues affecting the sports industry. We’re not an advocacy group – that would not be consistent with the fact we’re part of a law school – but we are looking to make a positive difference.

You’ve been involved on a number of sports law panels and cases. What have been some of your most memorable experiences to date and what’s made them so?

The work I’ve done on sports medicine legal issues – working with the NCAA’s Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Committee. We monitored injury protection rates and made recommendations to make intercollegiate athletics safer as well as formulated the NCAA’s drug testing policy and adjudicated student-athlete appeals of positive tests. I’m privileged to be a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which resolves a wide variety of sports-related disputes, including doping and athlete eligibility issues.

One of my more interesting cases was one that happened 15 years ago in Chicago. A basketball player at Northwestern had a full scholarship ride suffered cardiac arrest while playing in a pickup game before enrolling and had to be defibrillated by paramedics. allowed him to keep his athletic scholarship, but wouldn’t let him play on its basketball team for health and safety reasons. He claimed his exclusion violated his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and I filed an amicus brief on behalf of two groups of sports medicine physicians advocating in favor of the school’s position. The United States Court of Appeals accepted our argument.

How does the rapid internationalization of the sports world affect your role and the role of sports lawyers in general? How does that complicate your roles and work?

At the college level, a lot of foreign-born athletes participate in the NCAA. We’re really the only country trying to retain the idea of “amateur” athletic competition. Most of the rest of the world has the club sport model, where young, elite athletes are are selected for club teams and given economic support, which may adversely affect their eligibility to receive an athletic scholarship from a U.S. university.

With the Olympics, there are more countries in the Olympics than there are in the U.N. I believe sports are a microcosm of society. Sports are perhaps the only thing that keeps us from killing each other – and the lessons we learn in sports can be applied to other world issues.

Professionally, sports like basketball, hockey, soccer and baseball all have an international labor market. The United States has a significant number of players overseas, and many foreign athletes play here. And we’ll keep seeing much more of that. We discuss this in our classes. The global market for professional players’ services in several sports raises many interesting legal issues in areas such as labor, immigration, and taxation law.

What do you see as being some of the bigger issues facing sports leagues, legally, in the next few years, and how do you address them?

Labor relations issues have been front and center recently; for example, last year’s NHL and NBA player lockouts, and this year NHL lockout and NFL referees’ strike. There will continuing issues of how the economic pie is divided between league clubs and the players (as well as referees).

Player health and safety issues, including sports doping, are becoming increasingly important, along with the issue of compensating retired players who are facing serious health issues arising out of their playing careers.

Intellectual property issues – with new technologies and games broadcast to different countries and all over the web: what’s in the public domain and what belongs to the league and its clubs is an important issue with different answers in different countries

What are your thoughts on the way the major sports leagues are handling concussion and related issues from a legal standpoint? Are they doing enough – why/why not?

I think they are going in the right direction. Players who have suffered a concussion must be medically cleared by a physician before resuming play. The NCAA has a new rule that if a football player’s helmet comes off, he has to sit out a play, which enables a player to be evaluated for a head injury. Although athletes assume the inherent risks of injury from playing a sport, including a concussion, they don’t assume enhanced risks created by a sports league’s negligence or fraudulent concealment. The litigation brought by retired NFL players and former NCAA football players raises some interesting legal issues that will need to be resolved by courts. It’s all about what can be proven.

We’ve seen another round of frustrating CBA negotiations in the NFL and NHL over the past couple of years. From a fan’s perspective, how do leagues allow things to get to this point and how could/should these negotiations be better addressed?

The fans’ interests are not taken into account adequately—if at all. The players unions focus on their players’ economic interests, and the league and clubs their economic interests. That’s the process the labor market provides. Both sides have a legal duty to bargain in good faith, but neither side is obligated to agree to anything or to make a “fair” offer. With the exception of Major League Baseball, professional sports labor negotiations are essentially becoming a no-holds-barred war of economic attrition.

As important as sports are to us, they are not an essential product or service like the police or fire protection, soe there’s very little direct government regulation of the sports industry. However, sports leagues, clubs, unions, and players have to take into account how much labor strife that results in lost games that the fans will put up with. Both sides have to realize that acrimonious, protracted labor disputes may kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

What do you say to fans that wonder how it gets to this point so often?

The current legal system breeds lockouts and strikes, because federal labor law doesn’t require either side to be objectively reasonable in labor negotiations and permits the parties to exert economic pressure through a lockout or strike as a means of achieving their respective economic demands. But ultimately, the fans collectively possess the greatest economic power by choosing how to respond labor disputes between players and league clubs.