A professor, journalist and leader in sports and entertainment law, Professor Michael McCann shares his journey in the latest edition of Profiles, where we get to know the Powerhouse people at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law. Produced and Hosted by A. J. Kierstead
Learn more about our Sports & Entertainment Law Institute: https://law.unh.edu/centers-institutes/sports-entertainment-law-institute
Learn more about Professor McCann: https://law.unh.edu/person/michael-mccann
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Read the Transcript
A. J. Kierstead:
A professor, journalist, and leader in sports and entertainment law, professor Michael McCann, shares his journey. This is Profiles, a special series of the podcast, The Legal Impact, where you get to know the powerhouse people at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law. UNH Franklin Pierce is now accepting applications for JD graduate programs and online professional certificates. Learn more and apply at law.unh.edu. I'm assuming you were a human being before Deflategate. I want to learn about that. Let's start off with your educational journey. Where did you go to undergrad and what did you study?
Michael McCann:
Yeah, the world before Deflategate. It was like a different era. So for high school, I went to St. John's Prep in Danvers, Massachusetts, then went to Georgetown University for college. And after college I went to work for Tom Riley, who was the Middlesex County district attorney in Massachusetts. He was running for attorney general. I was basically the utility player for Tom Riley, I did a number of different things, including driving him, including fundraising, including communications. Riley was notable because he was the district attorney in the Louise Woodward British au pair case where she shook a baby who died.
Michael McCann:
So that case got a lot of attention in the late 1990s. And I worked with him, I got to know him very well, went to work with him at the state attorney general's office. And that was really an important experience because it sparked my interest in the law. And then I went on to law school, I went to the University of Virginia where I was the editor in chief of the Sports and Entertainment Law Journal and did some other things. And then after UVA, I went to practice in Boston, and a couple of years in, there was a football player at Ohio State named Maurice Clarett who sued the NFL over it's age eligibility rule.
Michael McCann:
And my brother, Bill, said, "Hey, you wrote on that topic when you were in law school, you wrote a law review note on that topic. On age eligibility rules." He said, "Why don't you email it to Clarett's lawyer?" And I said, "Why would he even look at it? I'm just some random whatever." And I emailed it to Alan Milstein. Alan Milstein, super prominent sports attorney, has litigated for Allen Iverson, Eddy Curry, Carmelo Anthony, just a star in the sports law world. And I sent him a note and I said, "I've written on this topic, thought you might find this of interest." Well, he emailed me back and said he read it, and he found it very interesting, and he invited me to join the legal team for Clarett. And that was my first experience in sports law. And I always found-
A. J. Kierstead:
Talk about the ultimate, the hands-on work you get in law school could pay off afterwards.
Michael McCann:
That's right. As my wife will remind me frequently, I was not some great athlete or really anything. And I tell my students, "Look, I got into sports off my writing." I wrote about a topic that was an interest to me, I wrote about the NBA draft and age eligibility, and the reason why I wrote about that is because I'm a big Boston Celtics fan, and the way the draft works in the NBA is that when your team is bad, you get a high draft pick. The Celtics were really bad in the 1990s, and then into the early two thousands. And I was watching the 2001 draft and Dick Vitale on ESPN was the announcer. He said something to the effect of, "It's a big mistake these kids are skipping college for the NBA." And I thought, I don't think that that's correct if you look at the data.
Michael McCann:
If you look at the data, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, the players that have skipped college actually did really well. And that sparked my interest in writing a paper on the topic, it was an antitrust paper. I wrote it for Donald Dell, who was the sports law professor, a very prominent person in sports as well. So that was my entry point. And I always tell students, "That's how I got into it, was by writing. So think about, use your time in law school wisely and think about writing projects. They may not get you on a famous case, but they might, and that might be your only way onto a case like that."
A. J. Kierstead:
Yeah, this has been really interesting about this profile series so far is, I mean, you're now the third person in this series and each one basically is getting into the law from completely different angles. Like Mickey did it from the engineering STEM inventorship and things and patents, Dean carpenter got into a via just wanting to teach, and you got into it because your desire to write, and your interest in sports law.
Michael McCann:
Yeah, that's right. And I was able to write into it, and then I continued on, I went to Harvard for my LLM, which was a great opportunity because I took a year to really work on significant writing projects, and I studied under a couple of professors there. One was John Hanson who is just phenomenal professor who does law and psychology, and some economics issues as well, related to that. He was my supervisor for a thesis, my LLM thesis, and I also worked under Paul Weiler, who really the, you could say the founder of sports law. He taught the first sports law course, he wrote the sports law book. Without Paul Weiler, I don't know if sports law is a standalone discipline. So I got to study under two mega stars and they were both so generous with their time, and they were both busy.
Michael McCann:
It always strikes me when students come to me, I always remember the professors that were generous with their time to me, because I always want to do that with my students. And I think that that's the most important part of being a professor, is working with students. And the professors that worked with me and that were generous with their time was certainly something that I always value. And I did that, I went on and became a law professor. I went down to Jackson, Mississippi, where I taught at Mississippi College School of Law for a few years. And I continued going back there every summer to teach a sports law class until 2017. About, I don't know, another decade after I left.
Michael McCann:
And along the way, I was interviewed by Sports Illustrated for a story involving women basketball players at Rutgers, Don Imus, the radio host, made derogatory statements about them. And I was interviewed about whether that was defamation. And the interview went well, and then the editor BJ Schechter called me later and said, "Hey, we need someone to write about sports law issues for SI." And at the time I had a blog with some other law professors on sports law. And I said, "Well, this sounds like a great opportunity." So I've been doing journalism for the last 14 years in addition to teaching and law. And it's been a fun mix. Obviously teaching is my primary love, but to be able to do journalism and practice as well has been a nice mix.
A. J. Kierstead:
Now, what would little teenage Mike McCann think of the career up to this point? We haven't gotten further than this, but I mean, teaching, being a lawyer, working for Sports Illustrated, just one of the biggest platforms in the world when it comes to sports journalism, I mean, looking back, what do you think teenage you would have thought?
Michael McCann:
I think teenage me would have thought becoming a lawyer, there's a good chance of that being the case. I liked doing moot court and I enjoyed sort of law, really since high school. I have two older sisters, both of whom are lawyers and it's always been something that has been of interest to me. So I think that being a lawyer part and to be in sports law, teenage Mike McCann would have been like, "That sounds awesome," right? So the law professor and journalism part? I don't know. I mean, I don't know if that teenager would have thought that they would go on into academia or journalism. Those sort of surface later, but I think becoming a lawyer was something that was on my mind for awhile.
A. J. Kierstead:
One of the most important things I joked about the beginning, Deflategate. This is obviously one of the highlights of your time working with Sports Illustrated, including at the University of New Hampshire where you taught undergrads of course, specific to Deflategate. I mean, how do you feel like that controversy influenced your journey?
Michael McCann:
Well, it was a huge story. And it was a huge story because it was one I could cover locally that had a national reach. And it was also a story on, it was interesting on a couple, at least three levels. One was the science of it. Is it true what the NFL claims about the Patriots and Tom Brady? I mean, literally, as I discovered there were scientists who said it just doesn't make any sense, what the NFL was saying. So there was the idea that how could the NFL put forward a theory of conduct that the basic rules of science say couldn't have happened? And why would that not end the story? It doesn't end the story because in law, that's not how the story ends.
Michael McCann:
In law, this is a great way of teaching students that in law, just because you might have the facts on your side, doesn't mean you're going to win the case. So from that vantage point, I thought it was compelling. And a great just sort of life experience to go through. The local part was great too. This was a story that everyone in my family was following because it's Patriots, it's local, I grew up here. I mean, there was sort of the sense of this was the big story of the day, the fact that the country was following it. And also the fact that it was covered so differently nationally versus locally. Where nationally, everyone assumes the Patriots, not everyone, but I think there was widespread suspicion that the Patriots were somehow guilty, that how are they good every year?
Michael McCann:
They must be doing things, they did Spygate, where they violated a league policy about where they positioned cameras, there's sort of this mystique to the Patriots and Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, that fed into a narrative that led people to assume that they must've done it. Whereas locally, that wasn't the narrative. Locally, the narrative was no, they didn't do it. They're great. So the conflict between the local and national, just to be a part of that was really a unique experience. And then just the law part itself, that part kind of was almost subsumed by everything else. The law part was Brady was in a union, the union negotiated a collective bargaining agreement with the NFL, the collective bargaining agreement was really bad on issues of discipline, where even if a player could prove he's innocent, that doesn't mean he's not disciplined. I mean, think about that.
Michael McCann:
It's kind of a, sort of a striking finding. It's ultimately the commissioners call. The commissioner doesn't have to admit evidence that cuts against what he thinks is right. So the notion of we teach students due process and equal protection, these big themes in law. The fact that they can be almost lost through a negotiation by a union and management, I think is a profound point. And should lead people to think about what means in terms of their own employment, what that means in terms of those who represent them, so it was compelling on that lens as well.
A. J. Kierstead:
Now, do you have any anecdotes, maybe the students that went through that course and the impact it had on them to be able to see firsthand? At the time, it was still ongoing. I mean, they were still dealing with fallout from Deflategate. How did the students take in, do you feel like it kind of altered the career perspective some students had?
Michael McCann:
It did, a number of students from Deflategate went on to law school, including our law school. And a number of them have said that that class gave them a reason to think about law as a career. And so on one hand, and they learned in that class, obviously the class was called Deflategate, but the entire class wasn't about Deflategate. We talked about antitrust law, labor law, intellectual property law, torts , contracts. So they got a taste of everything in it. And it was a good survey course under the masking of Deflategate. It was really a law course at the end of the day. And I think for them, for some at least, it gave them interest in law. I also think, I remember the first class, setting the tone. Because the first class had five TV crews there.
Michael McCann:
There were the three Boston stations, there was a Channel9, and then Fox Sports. Katie Nolan was there. And that, I remember we were scrambling, Kevin Susa is a person at UNH who I worked with on the course, he's an administrator. He does phenomenal work. And we realized like the day before, all these TV crews are coming, we have to get permission from the students. I mean, in their first class, they're having to be asked to sign a consent form. Yeah, so that was kind of wild. The idea of just having TV crews filming the course the first time it's taught, the first class, it was surreal. I've never seen anything like it. I don't think I'll ever see anything like it again, I think for the students in it, it was eye opening.
A. J. Kierstead:
Deflategate's a perfect transition to Sportico. I mean, it's intersecting law, sports, business, and how they all intersect. And you're one of the founding contributors to this new media outlet. Can you talk about this transition from writing for Sports Illustrated to this new outlet?
Michael McCann:
Yeah, so I was with Sports Illustrated for 13 years, I loved it, had no intention of going anywhere, but it was last April, Scott Soshnick, who's the top Bloomberg sports writer, reached out to me and said that he was putting a group together of people from Bloomberg, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and some other major outlets of starting a publication focused on sports business and the industry. And it's powered by Penske Media, which is the publisher of Rolling Stone, Variety, and other major brands. So it's part of a portfolio of publications that have a top publisher behind it. And initially I said, "I really like where I'm at," but the more I talked to Scott, the more I got a sense that for the work that I do, it was a good sort of transition point of my career, where writing about sports law well fits well into sports business and sports technology.
Michael McCann:
And I thought, "Sometimes in life you've got to make a change." And this was an opportunity to try something new, and it continues to be compatible with my teaching, my scholarly writing, and all the other things that I'm involved in. So I love that so far. It's a great publication. And the writers are first-rate, breaking a lot of news, Sportico broke the purchase of the XFL, just all of these other sports business, SPACs, these new companies that are coming up involving the sports industry. So it's been a lot of fun. It's a great group. But I still religiously read Sports Illustrated. It remains my favorite magazine by far. So I like to think that I had a great run there, and I stay in touch with a lot of folks there too. So it's been a positive transition, but I also enjoy remaining part of the history of SI too.
A. J. Kierstead:
Because you weren't busy enough with everything else we mentioned so far, you also had time to write a book with Ed O'Bannon who was a athlete. I mean, without going too deep into that case, I mean, can you talk about what that experience was like?
Michael McCann:
Yeah. So that Ed O'Bannon, former NBA player, former UCLA star, after he retires, a buddy of his tells him that he's in a video game, he goes over and sees his friend's son playing Electronic Arts basketball game with college players in it, it doesn't have his name, but as everything else. His race, his jersey number, his hometown, his skill set, he's the best player in the game. He was the player of the year in college. And that led to a case against the NCAA that went eight years and ultimately, Ed won. And I covered that case for Sports Illustrated. It was at an Oakland federal court. And while I was out there, I had dinner with him.
Michael McCann:
And I remember I said, "Hey, when this thing's over, would you be willing to speak to UNH? Maybe make your first in-person visit after the case?" And he said sure, and he lived up to his word. So after the case ended years later, he came up to New Hampshire. He gave his first public comments to a live audience here at UNH Law. And while he was here, we talked about, "Why don't we do a book on the case? I mean, beyond just the case, your life." Ed's from Los Angeles, grew up there, a loving family, he had a devastating knee injury in college that changed his plans on when he would go to the NBA, recovering from that, how he goes on and has a successful career.
Michael McCann:
It makes a lot of money, and then he decides when he's in a really comfortable spot in life, he's retired, he's got three kids, his wife, they're living in a suburb in Vegas, he doesn't have to get involved. There's no reason. And it wasn't a case that would lead to him making money, it was about changing rules. But he took it on, and he took it on in spite of people complaining, "Oh my God, you're getting rid of my video game," even though that's not what he was doing. So that was the case. It was a great experience to write with someone who is so thoughtful, so caring, selfless, really. To kind of, to give up years of your life for a case that is about changing rules that are going to benefit others, it really speaks volumes about the person.
A. J. Kierstead:
Yeah. I think we filmed some of those events. So I'll be sure to link them in the episode description, if you want to check it out. Ed is, he's fascinating. And the last event we did, his wife even joined us, which was interesting to hear the home field, what that was like for them dealing with. Because it was a big case and it took what, seven years, eight years, or something like that to go on?
Michael McCann:
Yeah. About eight years. And like you said, A.J. It was a big case for everyone in his family, right? They had to deal with the attention the case got, and those who blamed Ed for the video game. That he took their video game away. I mean, that was the prevailing critique. That he did it for money, which was just factually wrong.
A. J. Kierstead:
Yeah, there's no money in this.
Michael McCann:
It literally doesn't make sense. And the video game thing was also not sensible because the NCAA could have changed its rules. It still hasn't. To allow college players to license their name, image, and likeness for use in commercial products. It's all it takes. And these games, and EA has announced the game is coming back, although it's not going to have the NCAA. It's going to be college basketball, or college football, excuse me. They shouldn't blame him. They should blame the NCAA.
A. J. Kierstead:
All right, Mike. So what's the future for sports and entertainment law? Why should law students consider going into this field going forward?
Michael McCann:
Well, I think the immediate short-term future is that a lot of colleges are going to need lawyers in their athletic department, because there are major changes coming to college athletes' relationships with schools where although it hasn't yet happened, it's on the precipice of happening. And there's probably be litigation. Before then, but very basically, college athletes will be able to get compensated for their name, image and likeness, it may be more, possibly. And for schools, a lot of them aren't really ready for that. What that means in terms of compliance. So I think for law students, if they're looking to get into sports law right out of school, the college approach is definitely the way to go. The same time, I always tell students, "If you want to be a lawyer for the Lakers or the Dolphins or the Red Sox, it's not going to happen right out of law school. That these are teams that hire in-house counsel who have years of experience."
Michael McCann:
But what you can do is seek externships and go to a school where you get the training for learning the craft in terms of antitrust, labor employment. And increasingly intellectual property where our school is especially well-positioned as a top five IP program. So I would say if you're interested in sports law, it's a great field. It's not necessarily feel that you'll get into right out of school, but you can position yourself to get into it. I would also add that our school has a unique advantage in we have a sports betting law program that is also fast moving. States are legalizing sports betting quickly, anytime there's a lot of quick activity, that means legal issues are coming up. That's another field where we're seeing people get jobs.
A. J. Kierstead:
Thanks for listening to Profiles, a special series of The Legal Impact Podcast presented by UNH Franklin Pierce school of law. To spread word about the show, please be sure to subscribe and comment on your favorite podcast platform, including Apple, Google, and Spotify.
