UCLA Law professor. Most tweets are about sports law or tax/business law. Tweets/replies are not legal advice
Los Angeles, CA
Joined January 2016
- Tweets9.9K
- Following1K
- Followers3.5K
- Likes2K
For ages 6-12, that raises the question of when year-round play and the potential future travel commitment becomes a factor for both parents and kids.
Which might happen anyway to help deal with the budget crunch from required conference travel and the reduced football/basketball subsidy.
Soccer is one of the only team sports where participation has increased over its pre-pandemic numbers (and flag football is really a one-off because it has only recently developed as an approved girls' sport at the high school and college levels).
New youth sports data is out from @AspenInstSports via @TheSFIA. Findings from 2025 include:
Tennis & golf participation surges
Flag football keeps growing
Low-income kids are being left behind
Fewer adults are coaching
My analysis: projectplay.org/news/youth-s…
A reminder that the Fall-Spring D1 men’s soccer plan is not quite a done deal. If the NCAA allowed it, the compromise solution would be for some of these programs/conferences to drop a division, while remaining D1 in other sports
Men's college soccer celebrated its move to a fall-spring season. But behind the scenes, there's a strong push to block it.
~150 schools have submitted rescission votes. The NCAA D-1 board will discuss today.
News + explainer, free to read @TheAthletic: nytimes.com/athletic/7726710…
As I have been saying for awhile, it's hard to confidently count out Infantino. Most predictions of his demise come from a Eurocentric understanding of the governance/power structure that's not reflective of the way the system works on paper and in reality. 1/
Most football fans detest Gianni Infantino. But the Swiss son of poor Italian immigrants may be exactly the FIFA president that most national football federations want. Me @FT on how power in the global game works, and why he's likely to survive. Free link as.ft.com/r/ccedc296-d545-4f…
I’m sure this is at the top of Infantino’s agenda for the “independent” FIFA reform process he has indicated willingness to consider
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been accused of “woefully inadequate” levels of co-operation after failing to satisfactorily respond to an attempt by Democratic members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to scrutinise FIFA’s relationship with the Trump administration.
Exclusive story from @AdamCrafton_ ⬇️
bit.ly/4hn5YYv
Corner Kicks as a tie breaker at the end of overtime? I did not know the NCAA used that instead of a PK shootout!
Infantino's violations of FIFA regulations and questionable ethics positions were reported back in 2016, as well as his undermining of the FIFA reforms by threatening removal of the independent committee chairs/members, leading many to resign. No one should be surprised by this.
Avsløring: Hemmelig lydbåndopptak: Detaljerte beskrivelser av Infantinos brudd på FIFAs regelverk idrettspolitikk.no/2026/09/0…
If US Soccer considers it a property it should pay attention to, send scouts to etc, and subsidizes or finds sponsors for it, rather than relying solely on state soccer ass'n oversight, more kids go to their state ODP and it becomes a more consistently legit ID opportunity
Putting aside the broader goals, this is good news for all the state ass'ns given that USYSA was floundering amidst competition w/ US Club and others. Just from a risk mgmt, coach training, standardization perspective, lots of leagues still need a USYSA-type entity 4/4
There's some legal risks to coordinating rigid pathways (if the Ted Stevens Act doesn't provide antitrust protection), but it doesn't sound like that is what they propose. Backing off the calendar year age group dogma demonstrated flexibility, not rigidity, is the key here. 3/
There are practical competitive reasons why ECNL, MLS Next etc won't cede their top tier status, but if US Soccer can organize the bottom 3/4 of the pyramid to create a pathway to get to the top, that alone could save on travel and broaden the funnel 2/
This is potentially huge - US Soccer returning to youth soccer after abandoning DA in the pandemic. Going through USYSA offers a chance to regionalize, which reduces costs, and revive ODP as an ID pathway, but true progress requires coordination w/ other platforms 1/
U.S. Soccer is on the verge of taking over the U.S. Youth Soccer Association.
A significant, historic step toward a re-wiring of America's youth soccer system — but it comes w/ many unknowns.
News, details, explanations, etc. free to read @TheAthletic:
nytimes.com/athletic/7545747…
So they gave up an empty threat in exchange for an empty promise?
UEFA to end FIFA boycott over WC investor plan
UEFA is set to formally withdraw its threat to boycott FIFA competitions after receiving assurances Gianni Infantino's failed World Cup sell-off plan will not be revived.
espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/4…
It is not the courts, but the colleges, that have allowed the line to fade, by trying to walk a tightrope by classifying them as students rather than employees, while treating them like employees, rather than students. 2/2
The line between college and pro still exists. It just is being ignored. Colleges and their accreditors could enforce serious academic requirements for students, including athletes, for admission and maintaining eligibility and reinforce that line. 1/
As judges allow former college football players now in the NFL to return to college football—and agents negotiate those returns—we're seeing the line between college football and the NFL fade.
That has major legal implications for college sports.
My @Sportico column: sportico.com/law/analysis/20….
