This event is part of an ongoing series hosted by the University of Iowa College of Law and the Iowa Board of Regents on policy challenges for Iowa and the nation. It is being supported by Iowa Sport and Recreation Management.

With college student-athletes earning name, image and likeness rights more than two years ago, the next battleground debate in college sports is whether student-athletes are employees of their institutions and, possibly, the NCAA. National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has flatly stated it is her legal opinion that certain college athletes are employees under the National Labor Relations Act, and her theory is being tested—and receiving early support—in several NLRB complaints currently making their way through the system. At the same time, multiple lawsuits are advancing through the federal court system that could lead to college athletes being deemed employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and an athlete revenue sharing system being forced upon the NCAA and its conferences. Meanwhile, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion in the NCAA v. Alston decision drew attention for its provocative assertion that: “Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate…The NCAA is not above the law.” Against that backdrop, experts in sport and labor law and college athletics will convene at the University of Iowa Old Capitol Senate Chamber for an evening of analysis and discussion of both sides of the issue to consider the future of the NCAA’s current amateurism model.

Live stream link: https://youtube.com/live/078mK06hfbg?feature=share

2.0 CLEs will be available for this event.