Curriculum
To earn the LL.M. in Sports Law degree, during a nine-month period of academic residence at the Law School, a student must successfully complete a minimum of 22 semester credit hours (with a maximum of 25 credit hours), including a directed research project that will result in a paper of publishable quality, and achieve a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 in all courses.
The required courses are:
1. An LL.M. Directed Research Project on an international or comparative sports law topic (6 credits over 2 semesters);
2. Professional Sports Law, which includes comparison of the European and American models of sport and the application of European Union Law to sport (3 credits),
3. Amateur Sports Law, which includes coverage of the legal regulation of Olympic sports and resolution of international sports disputes by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (3 credits);
4. Two other Sports Law elective courses (2 credits each), selected from:
Sports Venues: From Election Day to Game Day Workshop, which studies the legal, financial, developmental, and political creation of sports facilities in the United States;
Sports Industry Legal and Business Practices Workshop, which covers the operation and financing of professional sport franchises from a legal and business perspective;
Amateur Sports Law Workshop, which includes coverage of the representation of athletes in Olympic and international sports disputes; and
Representing Professional Athletes and Coaches Workshop, which covers the formation, negotiation, drafting, interpretation, and enforcement of professional athletes' employment and sports marketing contracts as well as coaches' contracts.
Students also must take 6 credits of elective courses from the Law School's Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Business and Commercial Law, Employment Law, Intellectual Property Law and/or International Law course streams, although other Law School courses may be taken with prior approval.
An example of a course load for an LL.M. student is as follows:
Fall Semester
LL.M. Directed Research Project 3 cr.
Amateur Sports Law 3 cr.
Sports Law Elective 2 cr.
Course Stream Elective 3 cr.
Spring Semester
LL.M. Directed Research Project 3 cr.
Professional Sports Law 3 cr.
Sports Law Elective 2 cr.
Course Stream Elective 3 cr.