Dr. Anastasios Kaburakis

Published, Spring 2010:

• Pierce, D., Kaburakis, A., and Fielding, L. The New Amateurs: The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Application of Amateurism in a Global Sports Arena.
  International Journal of Sport Management, Vol. 11, No. 2, 304-327

• Kaburakis, A. (2010). Amateurism Revisited. National Collegiate Athletic Association amends definitions in important sections of Amateurism Bylaw with great impact for international student-athletes.
  World Sports Law Report, Vol. 8, Iss. 3, 8-10
  (for a full list of references not included in the pdf link, please advise via the contact page)

Released in the Fall of 2009:

• Kaburakis, A., Pierce, D., Fleming, O., Clavio, G., Lawrence, H., and Dziuba, D. (2009). “It’s in the likeness”. NCAA Student-Athletes’ Rights of Publicity, EA Sports, and the video-game industry. The Keller forecast. Entertainment and Sports Lawyer (American Bar Association’s Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries), Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2009, 1-39

• Kaburakis, A. (2009). Litigation opportunism, or systemic change de jure?
  The ongoing legal war and impending crucial battles that may change the NCAA… or confirm its unique position in the world of sport.
  World Sports Law Report, Vol. 7, Iss. 9, 14-16

admin Research updates

Update: New Call for Abstracts available as of Mon, April 4, 2010. See below and the ISLBC website. Also, peruse our colleagues’ May Istanbul international sports law symposium here.

Dr. Kaburakis is cooperating with several academic and industry constituents, organizing the International Sport Law and Business Conference, to take place in Istanbul, Turkey, September 6-7, 2010. This promises to be an excellent gathering of intellectual capital, with tremendous potential for meaningful contributions to the field through the establishment of partnerships, quality publications, and mutually beneficial initiatives pursued by sport professionals. At times of extremes, intense hardship felt by this and most other industries, as well as the concurrent opportunities that trying times carry, there is no better venue to reach balanced analysis and carefully weighed recommendations than Istanbul, embodying the “bridge between worlds” since its founding. Do consider joining the outstanding group of colleagues that have been contributing research, reviews, and support in September. As you will realize by the Call below and after perusing the conference website, this is definitely a worthwhile venture, with a great deal to offer.

Keep checking the ISLBC website for updates and consider making travel plans well in advance. These will be busy, productive, and thoroughly enjoyable times in Istanbul. As evident from recent past, when Greek and Turkish colleagues put their heads together… miracles tend to happen!

Read more…

admin Miscellanea

UPDATE: Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Impressive, and congrats to all involved! The delayed enrollment portion of 09-22 indeed suspended for 2010-2011. Solid work from many constituents in order to maintain the crucial balance embedded in 09-22. Outstanding and inspired work from Amateurism Cabinet and Legislative Council (LGC) members. Also major kudos and congrats to the several coaches associations, compliance professionals, and many stakeholders who presented solid arguments and precedent/research-based data that would build a strong case for the LGC to agree on amending 09-22 and suspending the delayed enrollment portion. And a note of recognition to a group that rarely receives praise, but most frequently is chastised and criticized in popular media: the national office staff… Their efforts should be appreciated by all involved parties, in streamlining the legislative process, engaging in constant educational and communication outreach efforts, learning and teaching key constituents (and each other) in the membership’s usually mercurial course of policy-making. There are good, balanced, hard-working, highly motivated people in Indy right now, trying to maintain the extremely delicate balance between the Association’s principles and contemporary reality, which often just does not allow for maintaining the traditional principles this miracle of higher education and sport entailed from its creation through the 20th Century.
As always, a word of caution to keep the balance: this means that recruiting will be fierce this year (especially during what is left in the spring and summer recruiting periods with 2010 prospects who might have been untouchable until now but will be pursued even for this Aug enrollment) and going into the 2010-2011 season (with coaches further aspiring at recruiting-friendly amendments during the 10-11 legislative cycle). Hopefully coaches will remain constrained by their values and upholding the Association’s fundamental principles. If they do select to go the route of cut-throat intercollegiate athletics recruiting and competition in a take-no-prisoners industry, they may get their wishes fulfilled… On one hand, what most everyone agreed on, they will be able to recruit (pre-HS graduation) kids that will be immediately eligible even though they did play professionally, as long as the 12.02.4 provisions and expenses’ aspects analyzed below are in place. On the other hand, most remarkably, it will not even matter if currently recruited or now recruitable prospects graduated HS as early as the summer of 2006 (!) when they were 16, i.e. in the case of UK soccer SAs, and played pro/semi-pro for the past 4-5 seasons, but without going above and beyond actual and necessary expenses and abiding by 12.02.4 (worth here to put another plug-in to our mystery colleague at the Bylaw Blog for simply outstanding work, truly brilliant and insightful posts, for a creation that the world of Compliance and the industry needed for some time… keep the mystery and solid contributions going).
Shrewd coaches will start today, if not already, to look at such prospects, research their particular academic and amateurism conditions, encourage them to immediately register with the Eligibility Center, and we could be looking at an amazingly competitive recruiting and playing season in 2010-2011, and possibly beyond… This year’s gate might involve hard to control floods in ensuing years, even after a modified proposal on delayed enrollment and organized competition attempting to keep the balance between deregulation and upholding amateurism/institutional control/SA welfare/competitive equity principles in the 2010-2011 cycle.
So go crazy in what is left with this year’s recruiting period, find your athletically seasoned and hopefully academically prepared difference-makers, continue to provide the exquisite opportunities for young athletes to experience the true blessing that is higher education in the US, enjoy the process of building bridges between the worlds, have fun… and please recruit responsibly!

For a retrospect on Proposal 2009-22, refer to earlier entries here.

After considerable deliberation, membership feedback, and Amateurism Cabinet recommendations, the Legislative Council (April 12-13, Indy meetings) Read more…

admin NCAA

Presentations

• Kaburakis, A., Potuto, J., Katz, R., and Hilbert, R. (2010). Amateurism Compliance, 21^st Century Law, Intellectual Property and Student-Athletes’ Rights of Publicity, institutional promotions, marketing, and commercial activity.
  2010 National Association for Athletics Compliance Annual Conference as part of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Annual Convention, Anaheim, California – June 21-22, 2010
  Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits session
• Yakovee, V. & Kaburakis, A. (2010). International Risk Management Considerations for the Global Sports Lawyer.
  36^th Annual Sports Lawyers Association Conference, Phoenix, Arizona – May 20-22, 2010
  CLE credits session
• Kaburakis, A., Miller, K, Dahlberg, E, and Patel, S. (2010). Science, Law, Policy and Inclusion leading to the London Olympics. Changing Perspective: Gender in Sport Competition.
  Ithaca College Conference on Law, Policy and the Olympic Movement, London, England – May 13-15, 2010
• Sharp, L. & Kaburakis, A. (2010). The National Letter of Intent: A Contract Analysis.
  2010 College Sport Research Institute Scholarly Conference, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – April 21-23, 2010
• Kaburakis, A., Kposowa, A., Paule, A., and Glyniadaki, A. Race, ethnicity, and the globalization of sports: stories of college athletes.
  (under review)
• Kaburakis, A. Sport talent, labor migration, and the adventures of youth. A comparative analysis of the Junichi Tazawa and Brandon Jennings cases.
  (under review)
• Kaburakis, A., Grady, J., Clavio, G., and Pierce, D. Delineating the Boundaries of Marketing Innovation Versus 21^st Century Intellectual Property Theory in the Entertainment & Sports Industry.
  (under review)

Journal Articles

• Kaburakis, A., Sharp, L., and Pierce, D. Integrating fields in Sport Law: Using the O’Brien v Ohio State University case to teach principles of Contract Law, NCAA Compliance, and International Arbitration.
  (under review)
• Pierce, D., Lawrence, H., and Kaburakis, A. Creating Synergy between Athletics Compliance and Academic Programs. Student Workers in the Compliance Office.
  (under review)

admin Research updates

Next to the amateurism developments elaborated below, it is good to review the article on international student-athletes in the Fall edition of NCAA’s Champion Magazine here. Also interesting to peruse, a recent article on ESPN here, and a very recent one from SI here.

admin NCAA

Proposal 2009-22 progress in 2010 and commentary here.

UPDATE III: As anticipated, Proposal 2009-22 was adopted (note: Prop. 2009-22 amendments vote tally; pp 4, 9,  10) last Thursday, January 14, 2010, by the DI Legislative Council, pending Board of Directors review.  There were significant last minute amendments pertaining to the effective date for tennis SAs, now set for Aug. 1, 2011, and the exclusion of skiing from the scope of the proposal.
Prior to the Legislative Council’s voting sessions, there were some additional concerns expressed by stakeholder groups, such as the American Swimming Coaches Association (p.15; Skiing Committee’s position on pp 21-22), recommending defeat or exclusion from the scope of the proposal.
Congratulations to all involved in passing this important legislative piece. During the seven months leading to Aug. 1, 2010 (effective date but for tennis SAs), a broad and in-depth membership educational effort will be needed for coaches, compliance staff, and other athletics administrators to fully realize recruiting opportunities and prepare for new challenges in this evolving era. As elaborated below, more “difference-makers” will be within coaches’ recruiting plans, thus an expansive research effort and cooperation between all constituents will be necessary to retrieve good data and as much sport-specific, case-by-case, useful information as possible on, e.g. allowable actual and necessary expenses in each region and sport.

Many PSAs, especially international prospects, and their families will be relieved to read these lines, as will be the several coaches, compliance personnel, and athletic directors who observed SAs serving withholding conditions and sitting out games due to the fact they played at a high level of competition, albeit without compensation, contracts, or agents, rather due to their country of origin sport system structure. The “no more vicarious professionalization” message disseminated by the membership, through the Amateurism Cabinet, to the Legislative Council, Board of Directors, and back to the membership soon, needs to be greatly valued, and constantly monitored in regard to abuses and possible attempts to circumvent its spirit. Abuses may entail not disclosing important financial data pertaining to PSAs preenrollment participation on high level club teams, or even more alarmingly, not making an effort to investigate and document the true value of, e.g. an IPSAs preenrollment participation in a top-level league or event in their country and region of origin. That is, IPSAs may very well be within the coverage of Prop. 2009-22 by merely playing on the top professional competition in their country and continent, however they may also go beyond the threshold (see below) because they received above and beyond permissible expenses under Bylaw 12. Hence, consistent research by this Faculty group and collaboration between member institutions, conferences, Amateurism Certification and Eligibility Center staff, SAR and Enforcement staff, and hopefully international sport federations and regional sport governing bodies, will allow for a clearer picture in a currently murky plane for recruiting coaches, administrators, and most importantly PSAs and their families. Figures are going to be needed, and data-driven policy is best attained through research such as the one this Faculty-Industry collaborative introduced years ago as elaborated below. Such collaborative research and policy-drafting projects need to carry on the efforts for balanced and informed policy and continued expansion of opportunities at trying times for PSAs and families all over the globe, for the utility and benefit of all involved in a fair manner.

Coaches, you may now seek your “difference-makers”… and please behave.

Read more…

admin NCAA

Dr. Kaburakis was in Greece 9/30-10/6 for the American Community Schools (ACS) of Athens International Coaching Clinic and academic-administrative meetings in Athens and Thessaloniki.

First Session was Thursday, October 1st, 6p, at ACS (new library):
Bridges to Higher Education. Combining Education and Athletics.
Administrators, Academic Advisors, Coaches, Parents, and Prospective Student-Athletes session.
Various key constituents and administrators attended. Pleasant surprise to see approximately 80 attendees there. Everyone in this session contributed in making it a very informative, insightful, and enjoyable evening in view of assisting young student-athletes who wish to pursue both their academic and athletic dreams internationally.

Second and third sessions were held at the new library above the ACS gym on Saturday, October 3rd, 9a:
The Bridge to the World of US College Basketball.
Session I: “How you can help your players…” Scholarship opportunities for Greek and international athletes in US colleges and universities. Amateurism policy and recent developments.
Session II: “How you can help yourself…” Coaches’ opportunities for graduate studies, involvement with NCAA coaches, and NCAA teams.

Coaches and basketball constituents from all parts of Greece and Cyprus attended the event.
Time was well spent, discussing important issues of impact on young people’s academic and athletic pursuits.
Thanks to all the coaches who attended during the national election weekend. Your presence was much appreciated and organizers trust you enjoyed a productive experience. Hopefully this interaction and ensuing opportunities for further cooperation will allow coaches and administrators to offer valuable service to young athletes.

The clinic was an outstanding event, featuring top-level NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s basketball coaches with long records of success in highly competitive settings, NCAA post-season participation, NCAA Final Fours, USA basketball and international coaching experience, as well as Greek coaches with recent unprecedented international competitions’ success in FIBA events. The clinic was accredited by the Greek Basketball Coaches Association and the Greek Basketball Federation.

The clinic’s homepage is found here.

Schedule is found here.

Coaches and presenters bios here.

Links from the Coaches Association here and here.

Images from the clinic:

More images from the clinic can be found here.

admin Miscellanea

Dr. Kaburakis is assisting Annie Constantinides, Director of Athletics at the American Community Schools (ACS) of Athens, Greece, in planning and organizing the 1st ACS International Basketball Clinic, featuring top-level NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s basketball coaches and Greek coaches with recent international competitions’ success in FIBA events. The clinic is accredited by the Greek Basketball Coaches Association and the Greek Basketball Federation.

There has been considerable work invested into the project and it promises to be a top quality event. According to the latest updates from ACS Athens and the Coaches Association, coaches and basketball constituents from all parts of Greece will attend the event.

The clinic’s homepage and registration forms found here.

UPDATE:

Due to the general national elections in Greece October the 4th, the clinic updated schedule is found here.

Coaches and presenters bios here.

Links from the Coaches Association here and here.

admin Miscellanea

Wonderful… more good food for writing and thinking purposes…

Alex and other colleagues from Portugal, please take this and run for our enjoyment (non-Sport&EU members, consider joining the listserve to receive responses and thoughtful academic discourse).

There goes the establishment clause in EC Treaty (somewhat), importantly the services clause, and the principle of the Country of Origin… In agreement re: balanced tone and limitations to justified restrictions, however it is an interesting blow for UK-based operators (here via Gibraltar)… Let’s monitor. Some links, pertinent sections of today’s ECJ judgment, a manuscript, and a comparative outline of interest below:

GamingLaw link here, contrast here.

The decision (C-42/07) and selected portions:

65…

First, Santa Casa’s long existence, spanning more than five centuries, is evidence of that body’s reliability. Second, the Portuguese Government points out that Santa Casa operates under its strict control. The legal framework for games of chance, Santa Casa’s statutes and government involvement in appointing the members of its administrative organs enable the State to exercise an effective power of supervision over Santa Casa. That system, based on legislation and Santa Casa’s statutes, provides the State with sufficient guarantees that the rules for ensuring fairness in the games of chance organised by Santa Casa will be observed.

66 In that regard, it is apparent from the national legal framework, set out in paragraphs 12 to 19 of the present judgment, that the organisation and functioning of Santa Casa are governed by considerations and requirements relating to the pursuit of objectives in the public interest. The Gaming Department of Santa Casa has been given the powers of an administrative authority to open, institute and prosecute proceedings involving offences of illegal operation of games of chance in relation to which Santa Casa has the exclusive rights.

67 In that connection, it must be acknowledged that the grant of exclusive rights to operate games of chance via the internet to a single operator, such as Santa Casa, which is subject to strict control by the public authorities, may, in circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, confine the operation of gambling within controlled channels and be regarded as appropriate for the purpose of protecting consumers against fraud on the part of operators.

69…

the mere fact that an operator such as Bwin lawfully offers services in that sector via the internet in another Member State, in which it is established and where it is in principle already subject to statutory conditions and controls on the part of the competent authorities in that State, cannot be regarded as amounting to a sufficient assurance that national consumers will be protected against the risks of fraud and crime, in the light of the difficulties liable to be encountered in such a context by the authorities of the Member State of establishment in assessing the professional qualities and integrity of operators.

The paper for interested parties here.

The comparative piece from SLA here.

More fun material for your reading pleasure and profound contemplation later this week.

Enjoy a fabulous Fall.

Tassos

admin Sport and EU

• Kaburakis, A., Pierce, D., Fleming, O., Clavio, G., Lawrence, H., and Dziuba, D. “It’s in the likeness”. NCAA Student-Athletes’ Rights of Publicity, EA Sports, and the video-game industry. The Keller forecast.
  Entertainment and Sports Lawyer (American Bar Association’s Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries) (in press)
• Pierce, D., Kaburakis, A., and Fielding, L. The New Amateurs: The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Application of Amateurism in a Global Sports Arena.
  International Journal of Sport Management (in press)
• Kaburakis, A. Litigation opportunism, or systemic change de jure?
  The ongoing legal war and impending crucial battles that may change the NCAA… or confirm its unique position in the world of sport.
  World Sports Law Report (in press)

admin Research updates