What They’re Saying

Our faculty, staff, students, and alumni, have over the last 30 years built a wide range of academic and extracurricular opportunities.  Below are some observations on the Tulane Sports Law Program from working sports professionals.

Melissa Goldenberg

Phoenix Suns’ General Counsel on the Tulane Sports Law Program:

“So if it is your [] dream to work in a professional sports team as a lawyer, there are a variety of different paths. I think step 1, though, is being in a program like this, right, your resumé is already hands-and-above better than the hundred other students who are applying . . . that is a great start for getting your foot in the door.”

ESPN's Bobby Marks

On the TPBNC:

“[T]he Tulane Pro Basketball Negotiation Competition (TPBNC) has transformed into the premier competition of its kind in the country. . .

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The TPBNC is described as a basketball think tank that brings together college students and basketball professionals. . .

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And it appears to be at Tulane where future NBA executives are found, and fictional deals get done before the start of free agency.”

Read ESPN's full article

The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov

On the Tulane Pro Basketball Negotiation Competition:

“Over the last half-decade, what one attendee called the league’s ‘shadow figures’ have come together just a few miles from the French Quarter for an annual gathering of the NBA’s salary-cap experts for its own convention of sorts. . . The days in New Orleans have become what one NBA executive calls ‘the salary-cap version of [the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference]’

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As competitors come to Tulane hoping to be noticed, some team executives attend to scout for someone to hire or for a name to notch away for the future. As they do, the Tulane diaspora across the NBA will continue to expand, and a small competition that started just six years ago will have its next problem to solve: What happens when its gets to be too big?”

Read The Athletic's full article

ESPN's Jerry Crasnick

On the Tulane International Baseball Arbitration Competition

“What began as a six-team, intra-school event in 2006 has since grown into a major national event. . .

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As front-office people and agents can attest, the preparation for hearings is exhaustive, and there’s an art to the process. . .

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Meanwhile, dozens of bright, ambitious law school students will descend upon the Tulane University campus in New Orleans to chase their personal grail.”

Read ESPN's full article

NBC Sports' Craig Calcaterra

On the Tulane International Baseball Arbitration Competition:

“It was one of the most entertaining and enlightening baseball and legal experiences I’ve had in some time. . .

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These law students had to face a murderer’s row of experts in the baseball arbitration process, including attorneys, agents and team, league and union employees who spend all or most of their time working on actual arbitration cases.“

Read NBC Sports' full article

Deadspin's Dom Cosentino

On the TPFNC:

“The [Tulane Pro Football Negotiation Competition] . . . is a unique opportunity for the next generation of NFL contract negotiators and agents to dive into the deep end of bargaining dynamics. It’s also an excellent chance to get to meet actual NFL front-office personnel and agents.

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After each competition, the judges excused the participants to do their scoring before bringing each side back separately to give them their feedback.

‘You’re never going to get that in a classroom,’ said Jason Kaner, a 2L from runner-up Villanova who had won the competition last year.”

Read Deadspin's full article

Testimonials

“As an experienced person doing salary arbitration hearings, and a baseball agent, I can say hands down [the Tulane International Baseball Arbitration Competition] is the best example for law students and others to see how salary arbitration actually works.”

Jon Fetterolf

Partner & MLB Agent, Zuckerman Spaeder

“I was fortunate enough to be selected to chair the [Tulane International Baseball Competition] in my 2nd and 3rd years in law school. It was unbelievable. . . at the end of the day you get a chance to interact, talk, and learn from some of the brightest people in [baseball arbitration].”

Jordan Jackson (L '18)

Baseball Operations Manager, Miami Marlins