Game On! What You Need to Know About NIL Rights for Student Athletes (2023 Sports & Entertainment Law Section Program)
8:25 Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:55 Welcome and Introductions
9:00 What Is NIL? How Does It Relate to Student Athletes?
Barbara Osborne, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, Chapel Hill
Warm up with the basics and build a strong foundation. During this session, learn the meaning of NIL and how it relates to student athletes. Then discover how we got here with coverage of recent decisions, state law and regulations, and NCAA policies. The speaker reviews intellectual property usage rights and key considerations for students and schools. Money in the bank is great, but how does this affect student financial aid?
10:00 Break
10:10 NIL and International Student Athletes
Sherrod Seward, OAKLG Legal Group, Charlotte
Get the ball rolling as we dive deeper into the world of international student athletes and the impact of NIL financial benefits on student visas. On campus or off campus, passive income or active, hobby or business, on U.S. soil or international — find out why these things matter and other key considerations for schools and individuals to avoid jeopardizing a student’s immigration status.
11:10 Break
11:20 Current Issues With NIL Compliance and Enforcement
Mike Ingersoll, Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP, Charlotte
Get your head in the game as we discuss current issues with compliance and enforcement — What now and what next? How has the playing field changed for students and collectives? Discover best practices for working with collectives and explore key considerations for deal structuring and NIL opportunities.
12:20 Adjourn
Description
Allowing student athletes to gain financial benefits from name, image and likeness (NIL) provides new opportunities and new hurdles for student athletes, schools, collectives and attorneys.
Contributors
Christy A. Coates
Christy A. Coates is a trademark attorney with Chestek Legal in Raleigh. She has experience in the entertainment and music industries, customer service, operations management and touring. Her focus is on entertainment law and intellectual property law including trademark, copyrights, licensing, media law and contracts.
Christy also works as a Production Assistant with CID Entertainment working for multiple tours with acts that include Eric Church, The Kings of Leon, Alternative Press Music Awards, Dirks Bentley, Lady Antebellum, Florida Georgia Line, Luke Bryan and Kenney Chesney.
Christy is an active member in the North Carolina Bar Association, where she serves as both a co-chair of continuing legal education for the Sports and Entertainment Law Section and as a member of the Women in the Profession Committee. She is also an active member in the International Trademark Association (INTA) where she serves on the UNREAL Campaign Committee.
Christy earned her B.A. in Marketing and Management from Lenoir-Rhyne University and her J.D. from University of North Carolina School of Law.
Mike Ingersoll is an associate at Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP in Charlotte. His practice experience includes class action defense, trade secret litigation, commercial and residential landlord-tenant disputes, shareholder disputes, civil rights defense, sports and entertainment law, internal investigations and compliance, and other general complex commercial litigation. He has litigated cases on behalf of major corporations, small businesses, medical practices, educational institutions, major residential and commercial landlords and owner-operators, elected officials, and professional athletes before state and federal courts, as well as in the American Arbitration Association, including the International Centre for Dispute Resolution.
Before joining Womble Bond Dickinson, Mike served as a joint-office judicial extern for the Honorable Louis A. Bledsoe, III and the Honorable Michael Robinson of the North Carolina Business Court. In this role he drafted opinions relating to tortious interference with contract, civil conspiracy, and misappropriation of trade secrets; researched and drafted memos and orders contributing to final judgments; and assisted with drafting preliminary injunction orders.
Prior to law school, Mike played in the National Football League. He remains active in league affairs and currently serves on the board of directors for the Charlotte chapter of the NFLPA's retired players division.
Mike earned his B.A. in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication and Exercise and Sport Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he played football and was the Team Captain and made the ESPN All-Bowl Team. He earned his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Barbara Osborne is a Professor and Law/Sport Administration Dual Degree Coordinator at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. She teaches Legal Issues in College Sport and NCAA Governance and Compliance in the graduate program, as well as Legal Aspects of Sport, Discrimination and Sport, and Women and Sport in the undergraduate program. She holds a secondary appointment teaching Sport Law at the UNC Law School. Barbara advises the Sport and Entertainment Law Association student organization.
Prior to her appointment at UNC in 1998, Barbara worked for 14 years as an athletics administrator in intercollegiate athletics. While working at Brandeis University as the Senior Woman Administrator and Associate Athletics Director, Barbara completed her law degree at Boston College Law School. She also has experience as a coach, public relations coordinator, television sports commentator, publisher, and sports information director.
Barbara earned her B.A., cum laude, in Communication from University of Wisconsin-Parkside (in Kenosha, WI), her M.Ed. in Human Movement (Sport Management Concentration) from Boston University and her J.D. from Boston College Law School.
Sherrod Seward is an attorney with OAKLG Legal Group in Charlotte. He is the principal of the Charlotte-based Extraordinary Ability Visa Practice, which is one of the most active and respected sports-focused immigration firms in the United States.
Launched in 2019, Sherrod started Sherrod Sports Visas out of a deep passion for sports, and a desire to use his law degree to advocate for athletes as they journey through demanding and convoluted pathways to procuring sports visas for international competition.
Even before he finished law school, Sherrod was already working in professional sports as the manager of a number of prominent mixed martial arts athletes. He also advised the careers of several athletes who went on to become champions in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Sherrod specializes in securing O and P visa status for his clients, which has included some of the greatest professional fighters in boxing and MMA, football, hockey, basketball players and even equestrians. He has also worked on behalf of franchises in the major sports leagues such as the NHL, NFL and NBA.
Over the years, Sherrod has provided solutions for athletes and sports professionals from countries such as Kazakhstan, Brazil, South Africa, United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Russia, etc. With the exception of Antarctica, he has obtained a P-1 visa on every continent.
Sherrod graduated from Cleveland-Marshall Law in Cleveland, Ohio. While there, Sherrod studied sports law under former IMG General Counsel and esteemed sports attorney, Peter Carfargna. He attended Hampton University as an undergraduate, receiving a B.S. in Marketing.
Sherrod approaches his sports immigration practice with the same tenacity he applies to anything in his life, whether it's his love for music, mixed martial arts or anything Cleveland-based.
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June 9, 2023
Fri 8:25 AM EDT
North Carolina Bar Center8000 Weston Parkway
Cary, NC 27511
919.677.0561