Vermont Law School Panel on Age Limits in Pro Sports

On Friday, April 2, at noon, we'll have what should be an engaging panel discussion on the role of age limits in professional sports. We hope you can make it up here (Vermont in April is about as nice a place as you can find). Here is the press release:

The Vermont Law School’s Sports and Entertainment Law Society will present a panel discussion on Friday, April 2, on age limits in professional sports.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be from noon to 2 p.m. in the Chase Community Center.

Panelists will include:

• Alan Milstein, a nationally-acclaimed sports litigator who represents NBA players Allen Iverson and Eddy Curry, among others, and who served as lead counsel for Maurice Clarett in Clarett v. NFL;

• Mike Zarren, the Boston Celtics' assistant general manager and associate counsel;
  

• Ryan Rodenberg, an assistant professor at Florida State University’s Department of Sport Management, former counsel at Octagon sports agency, and author of articles on age limits in the NBA, professional tennis, and the LPGA; and

• Chris Brown, President of the Basketball and Entertainment Divisions of the Boston-based Orpehus Sports and Entertainment, which he co-founded with Joe Rosen. Chris's clients include NBA players and music stars, such as Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan and former Indiana Pacers point guard Travis Best. Chris is also an adjunct entertainment law professor at Boston College Law School, from where he graduated in 1998.

Professor Michael McCann, who is Sports Illustrated's Legal Expert and who worked for Mr. Milstein in the Clarett case, will moderate.

The debate over age limits in professional sports centers on lucrative contracts and marketing deals, anti-trust issues and labor laws, and whether young athletes have the physical and emotional maturity to compete with older players.

The NFL and NBA have age-based eligibility requirements, but professional baseball, golf, hockey, tennis and other sports leagues either have no minimum age requirement or allow players under age 18 under certain requirements. The NCAA declares players ineligible for collegiate sports once they declare themselves eligible for the pro draft and sign with agents.

Contact Andrew Delaney for more details. For directions to Vermont Law School (which is about 2 hours from Boston and 25 minutes from Dartmouth College), click here. For the panel's Facebook page, click here.

Update: Vermont CLE credit will be available for lawyers in attendance. We appreciate the Vermont Bar Association co-sponsoring this event.