September 6, 2012
Manatt sponsors major conference on the role of sports in higher education

Keynote Speakers Are NY Times Op-Ed Columnist, Joe Nocera, and NCAA Vice-President and Chief Policy Advisor, Wallace Renfro

Manatt is the Gold Sponsor of a major symposium—"What Is the Proper Role of Sports in Higher Education?"—that will occur at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, on September 6, 2012. The Keynote Speakers are NY Times Op-Ed columnist, Joe Nocera, and NCAA Vice-President and Chief Policy Advisor, Wallace Renfro. The Executive Directors of the Bowl Championship Series and the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, Bill Hancock and Amy Perko, respectively, will also be speaking, as will former NCAA student-athletes Ronnie Lott (NFL Hall-of-Famer) and Brent Jones (three-time NFL All-Pro). The lunchtime speaker, David Drummond, is also a former NCAA varsity football player at Santa Clara University and is now Google's Vice President for Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer. Numerous distinguished panelists listed on the linked page will be joining these prominent speakers.

Click here for registration and Symposium information.

The Symposium is under the auspices of the newly formed Institute of Sports Law and Ethics, which is chaired by Manatt partner Ron Katz. The Symposium will address the following issues about college sports, which are frequently reported on both the sports pages and front pages: payment of athletes, recruiting violations, disciplinary mechanisms, gender equity, eligibility determinations, conference alignments, scholarship amounts, television revenues and the very definition of amateurism. The term "student-athlete" itself has evolved over the years and perhaps raises more questions than it answers. The purpose of this Symposium is to address as many of these issues as possible both individually and within the broader context of what is the proper role of sports in higher education, which may differ depending on the type of institution, the type of sport and whether that sport generates more revenues than costs. Panels of experts consisting of those most closely involved with these issues—sports organization officials, athletic directors, student-athletes, journalists who write about sports, attorneys involved in sports cases, professors who teach about sports, and sports consultants—will explore these issues in depth before an audience limited to 250 attendees.