Ethics and Sports: Recent Developments
Professor Adam Epstein,
Professor of Legal Studies, Department of Finance and Law,
Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan
The presentation will discuss recent (i.e., within the last 5 years) situations and dilemmas in sports which have legal or ethical ramifications. Reference will be made to various ethical responsibilities of lawyers and how they intersect with these sports examples. The discussion is divided into four major categories: Youth and Intercollegiate, Interscholastic, Olympic, and Professional. PowerPoint slides and videos will enhance the presentation which covers raging parents, coaching misconduct, mercy rules, and varieties of fraud including academic, participation and technological fraud. Examples are included from Wisconsin and other states, and a few international examples are offered as well.
Ethics Rules
- Wisconsin, SCR CHAPTER 20 RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT FOR ATTORNEYS
- Chapter 20A
- Chapter 20B
- Michigan, MICHIGAN RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
Conduct Examples
- Coaches:
- Parents:
- Player:
Penalties
- Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
- Sportsmanship rules (WIAA Sportsmanship Definition)
- Sportsmanship Reference Guide (WIAA Sportsmanship Reference Guide).
- Penalty given to WIAA student-athlete for inappropriate tweet. High School Athlete Suspended over Tweet
- Umpires unethical behavior caught on camera during Texas high school game.
- Coaches fired or suspended for encouraging violent hit in Texas caught on tape. Coach Suspended for Players Hit
- One coach pled guilty to misdemeanor assault charges. Coach Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor
- Under Texas law, if a person aids, encourages or directs an individual to commit a crime, that person can also be criminally charged. (Tex. Pen. Code, § 7.01 (2016)) Texas Penal Code: Criminal Responsibility
- Football Player Hits Referee
- Jackie Robinson West and participation fraud by using ineligible players for Little League Baseball
- Little League International, Suspensions Handed Out, U.S. Championship Title Revoked, Special District Advisor To Be Named, Feb. 11, 2015 (Jackie Robinson Little League Rules Violation)
- Various examples of "tanking" or violating the spirit of the game in softball and basketball, violating school district code of ethics for coaches, states in part: "The coach must be aware that he or she occupies a position of great influence on the education of a student-athlete and therefore should never place the value of winning above the value of instilling the highest ideals of character. Coaches must uphold the honor and dignity of their position. In all contacts with student-athletes, officials, school administrators, competitors and the public, coaches shall set an example of the highest ethical and moral conduct."
- Tom Kreager & Mealand Ragland, Riverdale, Smyrna Coaches Suspended for 2015-16 Season, District Says, Daily News Journal, Feb. 25, 2015, Riverdale, Smyrna Coaches Suspended
- Blowouts: No mercy rule not in place, then enacted as a result at the high school level.
- Filing a complaint for no mercy in the form of a bullying complaint against a coach. No Mercy Rule in Texas High School Football
- Intentionally causing injury to another player resulting in an investigation by the OSSAA (Oklahoma)
- Outlawing handshakes at the end of a game (Kentucky) KHSAA Bans End of Game Handshakes
National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2015-2016 NCAA Division I Manual (April, 2016), NCAA April 2016 Manual
- Exploration of the 2015-2016 NCAA Manual and its mention of interesting terms such as: Sportsmanship: mentioned 29 times. Misconduct: 19 times.
- Ethic: mentioned 25 times (ethical, unethical).
Other Examples
- Donnie Tyndall fraud case
- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC INFRACTIONS DECISION APRIL 8, 2016, NCAA Infractions Decision on Donnie Tyndall
- FSU no wearing headdress resolution
- Perry Kostidakis, SGA Passes Resolution Discouraging Headdresses at Games, FSUNews.com, May 3, 2016, FSU No Longer Permitted to Wear Headdresses
- UNC academic fraud case
- McCants & Ramsey v. NCAA, Class Action Complaint, 15 CVS 1782 (N.C. Super. Ct. 2015), McCants & Ramsey v. NCAA Complaint
- Kenneth L. Wainstein, A. Joseph Jay III & Colleen Depman Kukowski, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, Investigation of Irregular Classes in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Oct. 16, 2014), Investigation of UNC-Chapel Hill Classes
- Rutgers Mike Rice incident.
- Rutgers fires coach Mike Rice, ESPN, Apr. 3, 2013 (Rutgers Fires Mike Rice)
- Penn State University: Jerry Sandusky case
- Report of the Special Investigative Counsel Regarding the Actions of The Pennsylvania State University Related to the Child Sexual Abuse Committed by Gerald A. Sandusky (July 12, 2012) (pgs. 1- 18), PSU Freeh Report
- Binding Consent Decree Imposed by the NCAA and Accepted by the Pennsylvania State University (July 23, 2012). Penn. State Consent Decree
- Louisville: strippers in recruiting (supposed) misconduct by women's lacrosse coach Kellie Young, alleged to have used abusive language and tactics with players. Louisville Used Strippers in Recruiting, Kellie Young Accused of Abusive Tactics
- IU Bill of Rights for student-athletes
- Indiana University Student Athlete Bill of Rights (IU Bill of Rights for Student-Athletes)
- ICU Technology Fraud (cycling)
- Lily Hay Newman, Hidden motors: cycling's mechanical doping problem hits new low, New Scientist, Apr. 21, 2016 (Cycling Technology Fraud).
- Russian Doping
- World Anti-doping Agency, Independent Commission Report #1, Final Report Nov. 9, 2015 (WADA Independent Commission Report).
- World Anti-doping Agency, Independent Commission Report #2, Amended January 27, 2016 (WADA Independent Commission Report 2)
- Inappropriate Tweets
- Olympics: Banned Greek triple jumper 'bitter and upset' after racist tweet
- Chris Chase, Banned Greek triple jumper 'bitter and upset' after racist tweet gets her kicked out of Olympics, Yahoo Sports, July 26, 2012 (Greek Jumper Expelled from Olympics for Tweet)
- Bullying in the workplace (Incognito, Miami)
- Theodore V. Wells Jr., Brad S. Karp, Bruce Birenboim & David W. Brown, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Report to the National Football League Concerning Issues of Workplace Conduct at the Miami Dolphins (Feb. 14, 2014). (Report on Miami Dolphins Workplace Conduct)
- Washington Redskins (immoral nickname)
- FIFA Scandal
- Hans Joachim Eckert, Report on the Inquiry into the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup Bidding Process Prepared by the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee (Nov. 13, 2014). (FIFA Report on 2018/2022 World Cup Bidding)
- Tennis players match-fixing
- Simon Cox, Tennis Match Fixing: Evidence of Suspected Match-Fixing Revealed, BBC, Jan. 18, 2016 (Match Fixing in Tennis)
- Deflategate (Tom Brady/New England)
- Theodore V. Wells Jr., Brad S. Karp & Lorin L. Reisner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Investigative Report Concerning Footballs Used During the AFC Championship Game on January 18, 2015 (May 6, 2015). (Investigative Report on Footballs Used in AFC Championship)
- Hackgate (MLB)
- Leigh Steinberg, St. Louis Cardinals 'Hackgate' Worse Than 'Deflategate', Forbes, June 16, 2015 (St. Louis Cardinals Hackgate)
- NFL Draft Hacking incident with Laremy Tunsil
- Kevin Seifert, Laremy Tunsil Slides to Dolphins at No. 13 after Gas Mask Tweet, ESPN, Apr. 29, 2016 (Tunsil Claims Account was Hacked).
- Consider "morals clauses" in contracts.
- Domestic Violence and Abuse (NFL)
- National Football League, Domestic Violence Policy (NFL Personal Conduct Policy).
- Lance Armstrong
- REASONED DECISION OF THE UNITED STATES ANTI-DOPING AGENCY ON DISQUALIFICATION AND INELIGIBILITY, REPORT ON PROCEEDINGS UNDER THE WORLD ANTI-DOPING CODE AND THE USADA PROTOCOL (USADA's Lance Armstrong Decision)
- Maria Sharapova (Meldonium)
- Maria Sharapova: Anti-doping panel to hear meldonium case, BBC, May 17, 2016 (Sharapova Fails Doping Test)
- Michigan and Bullying
- Policy prohibiting bullying; adoption and implementation by board of school district or intermediate school district or board of directors of public school academy; public hearing; submission of policy to department; contents of policy; annual report of incidents of bullying; form and procedure; school employee, school volunteer, pupil, or parent or guardian reporting act of bullying to school official; modified policy; definitions; section to be known as "Matt Epling Safe School Law," MCLS § 380.1310b (2016), Mich. Revised School Code 380.1310b
(10)(c) "Cyberbullying" means any electronic communication that is intended or that a reasonable person would know is likely to harm 1 or more pupils either directly or indirectly by doing any of the following:
(10)(b)(i) Substantially interfering with educational opportunities, benefits, or programs of 1 or more pupils.
(10)(b)(ii) Adversely affecting the ability of a pupil to participate in or benefit from the school district's or public school's educational programs or activities by placing the pupil in reasonable fear of physical harm or by causing substantial emotional distress.
(10)(b)(iii) Having an actual and substantial detrimental effect on a pupil's physical or mental health.
(10)(b)(iv) Causing substantial disruption in, or substantial interference with, the orderly operation of the school.
(10)(d) "Telecommunications access device" and "telecommunications service provider" mean those terms as defined in section 219a of the Michigan penal code, 1931 PA 328, MCL 750.219a.
(11) This section shall be known as "The Matt Epling Safe School Law".
History: Add. 2011, Act 241, Imd. Eff. Dec. 6, 2011 ;-- Am. 2014, Act 478, Eff. Mar. 31, 2015
- Dennis Wideman (hit on referee)
NHL Player Cross-checks Referee
Sports Ethics Research
Epstein, Adam and Niland, Bridget, Exploring Ethical Issues and Examples by Using Sport (August 31, 2011). Atlantic Law Journal, Vol. 13, pp. 19-59, 2011. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1920429