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Any suggestions on how I can make my note on the recent NFL lockout (or current NBA lockout), without being preempted, and people actually caring about the topic (so it has a chance of being published)?

Tons of articles are coming down the pipe about this. I would be wary.

corporatelaw87 wrote:Any suggestions on how I can make my note on the recent NFL lockout (or current NBA lockout), without being preempted, and people actually caring about the topic (so it has a chance of being published)?

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Blindmelon wrote:Tons of articles are coming down the pipe about this. I would be wary.

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WRITE REALLY FAST!!

As a very active member in my school's International Sports & Entertainment Law Journal, I feel your pain. That being said, I try to avoid topics like this. All the low-hanging fruit gets picked right away and I hate trying to dig or force my way into a niche almost solely for the sake of novelty. I'm not really sure what kind of advice you expect on here. I doubt most on here have spent nearly as much time on this issue as you should already have done, and the people who might have spent a lot of time doing otherwise (perhaps researching for a note as well) probably doesn't want to give another person a heads up on what might be a viable topic.

get advice from a prof

Depends entirely on what you want to write. Articles that essentially say "here is what i think about the lockout(s)" are thoroughly unhelpful and likely to be preempted. The trick is to say something new about what the lockouts reflect about current legal doctrine. Sports law exists at the intersection of contracts, labor law (especially the law covering collective bargaining), antitrust, and intellectual property. There are tons of ways you can slice and dice the dozens of issues prevalent in NFL and NBA negotiations to piece together a good article/note. If you have a background in game theory or negotiations, there is an interesting component regarding how litigation surrounding the NFL lockout affect the negotiations over the CBA.

Read the 8th circuit opinion and the dissent. There is some meaty stuff in there that has little to do with sports and more to do with labor law; especially in terms of the interpretation of the NLGA.

keg411 wrote:Read the 8th circuit opinion and the dissent. There is some meaty stuff in there that has little to do with sports and more to do with labor law; especially in terms of the interpretation of the NLGA.

Still, you're going to get preempted. Sorry OP, but I've already seen 3 articles on antitrust/labor law and the lockout - all will be published in LRs (although probably not great ones).

Notes are a great venue to explore some small nuanced area of law in greater depth than most articles would. Picking something kitsch or a new hot-button issue generally makes for a poor note. I'm sure theres something there you could work with, but I would advise you to pick some very small piece of the puzzle and analyze it in depth, otherwise you will be preempted right after fall journals are published, or your note will just be too general and won't get published.