There’s No “I” in Sports Law: How One Student Built Her Network
Published March 31, 2022
Teamwork is nearly synonymous with the sports world—and when it comes to the Sports Law Concentration, team-building is equally important. While athletes rely on cooperation and coordination on the field, sports lawyers rely on similar camaraderie off the field to find success.
Let’s take a look at the Sports Law Concentration at UB Law and how one student used her learned skills to build a network with high-level sports law executives.
Tackling the Sports Law Concentration at UB
The world of sports is a multi-billion-dollar industry and it keeps expanding each year. It’s no surprise then that Sports Law is a growing global industry. As more and more lawyers both adapt to and enter the field of Sports Law, UB Law continues to best serve students interested in the practice by providing an array of unique experiences and courses. The curriculum is built on a rich sports history that begins right in the school’s own backyard.
The School of Law is located within the University at Buffalo. Both the basketball and football clubs—each named the UB Bulls—have done fantastic in recent years, competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I. Then of course there’s the storied Buffalo Bill’s franchise, experiencing a recent resurgence in wins after a long drought following their four-in-a-row- Super Bowl appearances (but we won’t talk about the losses). With the wealth of sports fandom nearby, it's no wonder more and more people are pursuing Sports Law at UB.
What You Can Expect from The Sports Law Concentration
The concentration is one of the newest at UB law and serves students with a direct interest in working within the sports and entertainment industry. Students in UB Law’s Sports Law Concentration should expect a variety of hands-on sports law experiences, including:
- A mock NHL salary arbitration seminar
- Externship opportunities with local college athletic departments
- Contributing articles on sports law to the UB Sports & Entertainment Forum
- Participating in sports-related events with the Buffalo Sports & Entertainment Law Society
In addition to hands-on experience, there are a variety of courses students of the concentration can take to inform them of various issues and topics important within sports. Depending on one’s interests, these elective courses could include:
- Drug Testing in Professional Sports
- Professional Contract Negotiation & Arbitration
- Title IX & Gender Equity in Athletics
Students pursuing the Sports Law Concentration are also encouraged to seek out externships within the UB athletic department.
Building A Sports Law Network
One Sports Law student has taken to building her network the way many teams build their roster. Marissa Egloff ’22 has grown her network through a variety of her courses, including Professor Helen “Nellie” Drew’s course titled Intensive Research and Writing in Sports Law. Within the course, students develop their writing and analysis skills while building bridges to high-level executives in the sports world. Egloff has taken full advantage of this opportunity.
A local football fan for years, Egloff took that passion and secured some high-level interviews. She reached out to Lisa Friel, the NFL’s senior vice president for investigations, after reading a New York Times profile on her. “I sent her an email and she responded within 45 minutes,” says Egloff. “I asked her many questions about her path and her position.” Egloff then went on to publish an article on Friel on the law school’s sports law blog.
The success of that first interview—and the article itself—led Egloff to Charlotte, North Carolina, where she interviewed Samir Suleiman, director of player negotiations for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. She also managed to score an on-field pass for the Bills/Panthers game.
Alongside her fantastic experiences with those within the field, Egloff has also gained a host of legal skills related to sports administration from Professor Drew. Together the two conducted a study just last summer which found, unsurprisingly, that when it comes to the administration of NFL teams there is a gender imbalance, with males highly dominating the field. They plan to collaborate again this spring to see whether Title IX has helped make inroads towards better gender parity in coaching and administrative positions within the college sports world.
While athletes need to train for the physicality of the playing field, Sports Law students and lawyers need to train in their own right. There will always be competition where the law is involved, and sports law is no exception!
