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Latest Analysis

Browse the latest legal alerts, case analyses, explainers, and strategic commentary on the forces reshaping sports and entertainment.

Business & Deals

+2

College Sports Built a Payroll. UC Berkeley May Have to Open the Books.

Sep 14, 2026

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9 min read

College Sports Built a Payroll. UC Berkeley May Have to Open the Books.

CalMatters wants to know exactly how a public university distributed $20.5 million to its athletes. No court has ordered Berkeley to disclose anything yet—but the lawsuit could force college sports to confront a problem the House settlement never solved: professional-style compensation inside institutions still governed by public-records, student-privacy, and potentially Title IX laws.

Jesse Wilde
Jesse Wilde

College Sports & NIL

+1

One NCAA Injunction Is Starting to Cover More Athletes

Sep 14, 2026

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5 min read

One NCAA Injunction Is Starting to Cover More Athletes

Louisville linebacker Kalib Perry did not start another eligibility lawsuit. He joined an existing one—and the judge extended the existing temporary relief to him.

Jesse Wilde
Jesse Wilde

Business & Deals

+1

College Athletes Are Getting Paid. The Knight Commission Says They Should Get a Vote, Too.

Sep 14, 2026

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4 min read

College Athletes Are Getting Paid. The Knight Commission Says They Should Get a Vote, Too.

The reform group says athlete voting power should extend beyond the NCAA to the College Football Playoff—putting a new question into the federal college-sports debate: who actually gets to govern the business?

Jesse Wilde
Jesse Wilde
When Does an Athlete Endorsement Become Salary-Cap Circumvention?

Sep 14, 2026

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10 min read

When Does an Athlete Endorsement Become Salary-Cap Circumvention?

In the NBA, the key question is not simply who writes the check. A legitimate endorsement can become a cap violation when the team helps create it, facilitates it, trades business for it, or uses a third party to provide compensation the collective-bargaining system was supposed to regulate.

Jesse Wilde
Jesse Wilde
What Do You Actually Buy When You Buy a Sports Franchise?

Sep 14, 2026

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9 min read

What Do You Actually Buy When You Buy a Sports Franchise?

A sports franchise is not simply a team. It is a bundle of territorial, commercial and governance rights that exists only because a league agrees to recognize them. That distinction explains how revenue sharing, ownership approvals, relocation restrictions, representations and warranties, and termination rights actually work.

Jesse Wilde
Jesse Wilde

Business & Deals

+2

The Clippers Were Ready to Fight the NBA. Steve Ballmer Just Ended the Legal War.

Sep 14, 2026

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5 min read

The Clippers Were Ready to Fight the NBA. Steve Ballmer Just Ended the Legal War.

Ballmer says the Clippers will accept the NBA’s historic salary-cap penalties instead of challenging them. What disappears is the threatened league fight—not the five lost draft picks, the NBA’s continuing investigative authority, or the separate federal criminal probe.

Jesse Wilde
Jesse Wilde
How Private Equity Ownership in Sports Actually Works

Sep 14, 2026

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11 min read

How Private Equity Ownership in Sports Actually Works

Private equity can own part of a sports team without running it, invest in several competing teams without controlling any of them, or finance a franchise without technically owning the team at all. Here is what “private equity ownership” actually means—and why the league rulebook matters as much as the purchase agreement.

Jesse Wilde
Jesse Wilde

Business & Deals

+1

Why Is My Team Blacked Out? How Local and National Sports Rights Actually Work

Sep 14, 2026

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10 min read

Why Is My Team Blacked Out? How Local and National Sports Rights Actually Work

A blackout is usually not a technical glitch or a government rule. It is the visible edge of a contract giving someone else the exclusive right to show that game where you are. Once you understand who owns the local, national, and out-of-market rights, the seemingly irrational world of sports streaming starts to make sense.

Jesse Wilde
Jesse Wilde
Prediction Markets Have an Insider-Information Problem

Sep 14, 2026

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9 min read

Prediction Markets Have an Insider-Information Problem

The better prediction markets become at putting a price on the future, the more valuable private information becomes. The difficult question is not whether traders should be allowed to know more than everyone else. It is whether they were entitled to know it—and entitled to trade on it.

Jesse Wilde
Jesse Wilde
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The Game Behind The Game

Sports & Entertainment Law + Business Analysis

© 2026 The Game Behind The Game

The Game Behind The Game provides commentary and analysis for informational purposes only. Nothing published here constitutes legal advice, creates an attorney-client relationship, or should be relied upon as a substitute for advice from qualified counsel regarding a particular matter. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s law firm, its attorneys, or its clients.

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