Tulane Law sports competitions draw top execs, hundreds of students
The spring brought one of Tulane Law School’s most anticipated annual traditions: the return of the student-run Sports Law Society’s pro sports negotiation and arbitration competitions. Across these four events, Tulane Sports Law was thrilled to host over 100 pro sports executives, agents, lawyers, and more to serve as judges and speakers on Tulane’s uptown campus, along with more than130 student teams from schools across the country.
The 17th annual Tulane International Baseball Arbitration Competition, also presented by the Fragomen law firm, was held on January 18-19, 2024, led by student co-chairs and 3Ls Jordan Girasole, Nicholas Hanna, Becca Scher, and Jason Sumich. Forty-one teams from schools across the country competed in rounds designed to mirror MLB’s formal arbitration format, making arguments over hypothetical contracts for MLB stars. Rounds were scored by 19 judges from across the baseball industry, including MLB teams, major sports agencies, the MLBPA, and the league itself. The judge group included MLB.com senior reporter, Mark Feinsand, a longtime judge of the competition who discussed it extensively with his colleagues on their popular “Hot Stove” segment. After many exciting rounds, the championship was awarded to a team from Villanova Law who, as a bonus, received an interview with Feinsand on MLB.com.
The 10th annual Tulane Football Negotiation Competition took place January 26-27, 2024 and was led by student co-chairs, all 3Ls, Dylan Bryan, Armando Alvarez, Dan Renaud, Alex de la Osa, Blake Chesledon, and Austin Yarnell. Adding to the excitement of this competition, renowned ESPN reporter Jeremy Fowler gave the event a shout-out live on SportsCenter. In this competition, student teams from 44 schools negotiated over mock contracts for real NFL players. Judging the rounds were 28 professionals from across the football industry, including many different NFL franchises, NFL agents, the NFLPA, and more helped narrow the field down to the championship. After a tense final round, the judges declared the team from Houston Law the champion.
The 7th annual Tulane Pro Basketball Negotiation Competition, presented by the Fragomen law firm, was held on February 22-23, 2024. Led by student co-chairs and 3Ls Paige Etherington, Nico Prendes, Davis Rourk, Zach Windham, this year’s edition featured over 30 different student teams and over 45 judges from every area of the basketball industry, including reps from more than 20 different NBA teams, certified agents, the NBA itself, and prominent media members.
This group included ESPN basketball reporter and former NBA General Manager, Bobby Marks, a longtime judge of the competition who recognized it as “one of the great events to be a part of” in a post to X. The competition culminated in a championship round during which each finalist team took turns in a separate negotiation against the same opponent (Rourk and Windham) over a hypothetical contract.
Finally, the 3rd Annual Tulane International Fútbol Negotiation Competition, presented by Relo Metrics, took place on March 18-19, 2024. The competition was led by student board members and 3Ls Ethan King and Jeremy Meyer, and featured 16 student teams engaging in mock negotiations over two types of contracts in international soccer.
The competition first included negotiations over mock contracts for the sale and transfer of players between different clubs— distinct to the international soccer business. In other rounds, teams negotiated over a player’s hypothetical contract with a club for wages, with one side representing the player’s agent and the other representing the club. The rounds were judged by a group of eight soccer professionals from across the industry, including Tulane Sports Law alum Marc Reeves (L ’00), an investor and advisor across various sports properties including Leeds United, CD Leganes, Cancun FC and Blue Crow Analytics; and Head of Global Strategic Partnerships for Fever.
