Last week, units of Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and BMG took the highly unusual step of purchasing a copyright for the express purpose of filing a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. The copyright in question is the musical composition “Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love)”, the subject of the Fifth Circuit’s shocking opinion in Vetter v. Resnik, 163 F.4th 951 (5th Cir. 2026).  The Vetter ruling upends decades of established…More

The college football coach carousel is in full swing and in this era of college football, each school competes in an arms race of sorts for not only the top players, but also the top football coaches. This blog post focuses on the modern era of a college football coaching contracts. Penn State publicly released the Football Coach Term Sheet (the “Term Sheet”) with newly hired Head Football Coach, Matthew Campbell. A term sheet is generally agreed to prior to and…More

On November 21, 2025, Division I member schools voted to rescind the proposed rule change that would have allowed student-athletes and athletics department staff members to legally participate in sports betting on professional sports. This decision will cascade through all three NCAA divisions, and gambling at any level will remain prohibited across the NCAA. See the Proposed Rule Change and our analysis below: Betting On It: NCAA To Permit Professional Sports Gambling For more information about compliance and legal considerations related to sports…More

Athletes, entertainers, musicians and other individuals at the vanguard of their fields (whether it be the next Super Bowl MVP quarterback, Grammy-winning artist, or Oscar-winning director), often surround themselves with a team of advisors. That team often includes an attorney, agent and manager. While their roles can sometimes overlap, each brings distinct value. Knowing the difference between these roles and what each person brings to the table can be the key to setting yourself up for future success. Agents: The Dealmakers Agents…More

New York Jets Star Cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner (“Gardner”) engaged in a back-and-forth exchange with a Buffalo Bills fan (the “Fan”) on X (formerly Twitter) prompting a civil suit for defamation and emotional distress against Gardner. The dispute arose after Gardner posted a picture of boxes, a ladder, and construction equipment for a golf simulator, with the caption, “Do I even have to say what I’m getting built at my new house?” The Fan responded to the tweet saying, “A…More

UPDATE (November 21, 2025): This Proposed Change has been rescinded by Division I member schools, and therefore gambling will remain prohibited in all divisions of the NCAA. Gambling and sports have been intertwined since the inception of athletic competition. However, when money enters the equation, particularly in games with unpredictable outcomes, fairness and sportsmanship become critical concerns. Historically, the NCAA has maintained a blanket prohibition on all forms of sports gambling by student-athletes and athletic department staff, aiming to protect the integrity…More

In the world of youth sports, few moments are as exhilarating as a home run in a championship game. For 12-year-old M.R. of Haddonfield, New Jersey, that moment became the center of a legal controversy that captured national attention and raised important questions about fairness, due process, and the role of the courts in youth athletics. The Incident: A Celebratory Bat Flip On July 16, 2025, during the final inning of the New Jersey Section 4 Championship of the Little League Baseball…More

Among the most dominant trends in the music industry over the past decade has been the proliferation of investment in catalogs of musical compositions and sound recordings. While many investors’ theses focus solely on the evergreen value of royalties generated from these copyrights over the span of many years, some buyers have reportedly purchased the rights to recording artists’ names, images, and likenesses, with a specific focus on these artists’ digital replicas. Recent examples include Pophouse buying assets relating to…More

The current dispute between the Las Vegas Raiders (“Raiders”) and Christian Wilkins (“Wilkins”) is more than a football headline; it underscores how fragile the concept of “guaranteed” money can be—not only in sports but also in entertainment law more broadly. Whether you’re an athlete, artist, or entertainer, guarantees are only as strong as the language in your contract and your compliance with the terms. This legal tension reveals a critical need for athletes to understand precisely how “guarantees” actually function in…More

Not just the name of the television show on NBC, Deal or No Deal is the question many attorneys are asking, as well as being asked by their clients, regarding transactions that are being made with companies and other individuals.  Most of my practice involves representing entertainers and athletes engaged in multi-year transactions with companies, whether the contract is for three years or five years for example (e.g., television series actor, pro wrestling performer, etc.).  It is crucial because there…More