New Media
Saturday, March 14, 2009 – 10:30 am
Harvard Law School, Langdell North
The “New Media” panel, moderated by Professor Rick Karcher, will cover how sports leagues and teams exploit new media and fantasy sports to generate revenues.
Moderator:
Rick Karcher
Associate Professor
Center for Law and Sports at Florida Coastal School of Law
Rick Karcher is an associate professor of law and the director of the Center for Law and Sports at Florida Coastal School of Law. He teaches primarily in the areas of torts, sports law and business law.
Professor Karcher speaks frequently on sports law issues. He has written numerous law review articles on sports agent regulation and has testified in court and in front of Congress on the subject. His scholarship has also focused on players’ rights of publicity. He is a primary contributor to the Sports Law Blog.
Professor Karcher was a partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP in Detroit where he practiced for five years. While practicing, he taught sports law as an adjunct professor at Michigan State University College of Law. Professor Karcher also played three seasons as a first baseman in the Atlanta Braves farm system.
Panelists:
Frank Hawkins
Partner
Scalar Media
Frank Hawkins joined the National Football League in July 1993. As Senior Vice President — Business Affairs and head of strategic planning for the NFL’s media group, he was responsible for formulation and implementation of traditional and new media strategies for America’s most successful sports league and preeminent media property.
Frank played a leading role in the structuring, negotiation, and administration of the NFL’s television and new media contracts. Before assuming his strategic planning role in March, 2007, he also was involved in negotiation and implementation of major NFL financial and other transactions (such as the last four expansion franchise agreements; the League’s collective bargaining agreements with its players; the League-sponsored credit facility for member clubs; the League’s own credit facilities; and the NFL’s very successful G-3 stadium construction support program). Frank was also responsible for legal and financial analysis on ownership transfers and club financing transactions, and integrally involved in the formulation of business plans and strategies for the NFL and its affiliated for-profit companies.
Frank advised Commissioner Roger Goodell, other NFL executives, and League standing committees on the formulation and administration of League media policies and related government relations policies and strategies. In his former role, he also advised Commissioner Paul Tagliabue on those matters as well as on League financial and ownership policies applicable to member clubs (e.g., club debt limits, ownership structure rules, and stadium lease and revenue-sharing policies).
Prior to joining the NFL, Frank was an associate at Covington & Burling, Washington D.C., February 1986-July 1993, where he handled communications and corporate law issues for a variety of public and private companies in lines of business ranging from paper products to cellular telephone service to residential real estate. Frank joined Covington & Burling following a year as law clerk to Judge William E. Doyle in the United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, Denver, Colorado.
Frank is a graduate of Harvard Law School (cum laude) and Harvard College (A.B. magna cum laude in Government), and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He lives in Darien, Connecticut with his wife and daughter.
Neal Kaplan
Senior Counsel
New York Mets
Education
Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude, 1998
Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law: Entertainment Committee Co-Chair, 1996-1997; Vice President, 1997-1998
Ames Moot Court Semi-Finalist
Cornell University, B.S., Industrial and Labor Relations, 1995
Employment with New York Mets
Interned in Legal Department, Summer of 1996
Hired as Legal Counsel on January 2, 2003
Promoted to Senior Counsel in December 2006
Assists the General Counsel with all aspects of the legal operations of the Club and certain affiliates, including all affiliates that operate minor league clubs or stadia.
Job Duties include: Negotiate, draft, review and interpret contracts, leases, collective bargaining agreements and other legal documents; provide legal advice and assistance to all departments of the organization and certain affiliates with regard to various legal matters including finance, labor/employment, intellectual property, real estate and general corporate/transactional matters; supervise litigation; direct and monitor services provided by outside counsel and consultants; interpret Major League Baseball rules and governing documents; prepare salary arbitration cases against Major League Baseball players under the Basic Agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Association.
Major Transactions/Matters:
Citi Field (opening 2009)
SportsNet New York (a Regional Sports Network, launched March 2006)
Litigation against SportsChannel (summary judgment granted in favor of Mets)
Prior Employment
Associate, Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro, Los Angeles, 1998-2001. Specialized in intellectual property and entertainment litigation. Participated in preparation of salary arbitration cases for Atlanta Braves (Andruw Jones, John Rocker, Kevin Millwood).
Associate, Parcher, Hayes & Snyder (entertainment litigation boutique), New York, 2001-2002.
Mike Mellis
Senior Vice President & General Counsel
Major League Baseball Advanced Media LP
Michael J. Mellis is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (“MLBAM”). MLBAM is the interactive media company of Major League Baseball, and is best known for its operation of the Official Website of Major League Baseball and each of the thirty Major League Club Websites. Mr. Mellis is also a director of MLBAM’s Tickets.com, Inc. subsidiary. Tickets.com is a live event ticketing services provider.
Prior to the creation of MLBAM in 2000, Mr. Mellis was Deputy General Counsel, New Media, Major League Baseball Enterprises, Inc. In that role, he was responsible for legal matters concerning the Official Website of Major League Baseball and licensing of Major League Baseball’s assets on the Internet.
Before joining Major League Baseball, Mr. Mellis was an associate at the law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler LLP, where he practiced in the firm’s Litigation and Commercial Departments and focused on intellectual property matters. Before joining Patterson Belknap, he clerked for Hon. John Bartels, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Mr. Mellis received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1991 and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Williams College in 1987. He is a member of the New York and New Jersey State Bars; the American Bar Association; the New York State Bar Association; the Copyright Society of the U.S.A.; the Association of Corporate Counsel; and the Sports Lawyers Association. In 2006, Mr. Mellis founded the Coalition Against Online Video Piracy, a group of representatives of more than fifty worldwide sports organizations, entertainment companies, telecasters and trade associations concerned about online video piracy (caovp.com). He has spoken at venues including the American Bar Association; New York State Bar Association; Practicing Law Institute; Promotion Marketing Association; and the National Sports Law Institute of Marquette University Law School.
Bryan Perez
Senior Vice President and General Manager
NBA Digital
Bryan Perez is the senior vice president and general manager for NBA Digital responsible for the day-to-day operations of the NBA Digital portfolio which includes NBA TV, the league’s 24-hour digital television network, NBA.com, WNBA.com, NBADLeague.com, NBA League Pass, as well as the league’s broadband and wireless businesses. Perez oversees all aspects including programming, operations, editorial, ecommerce and marketing. Earlier this year, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and the NBA announced a ground-breaking expansion of their long-running partnership, through which the companies will jointly manage a portfolio of the NBA’s digital businesses that Turner Sports will operate out of its Atlanta production facility. Perez reports to David Levy, president of Turner Sports, and Adam Silver, Deputy Commissioner and COO of the NBA.
Perez’s extensive and diverse professional background includes most recently serving as CEO of Live Nation’s Global Digital division. In this position, Perez established and built the new division and was responsible for the company’s worldwide internet, wireless, ticketing, and IT strategy and operations. While at Live Nation for three years, Perez also served a president of the Global Digital division for a year and president of the Digital Distribution division.
From 2004-2005 Perez worked as executive vice president of strategy and business development for Clear Channel Entertainment, the predecessor to Live Nation, where he led preparation of divisional strategic plans and annual strategic acquisition and development plans, and identified and evaluated new lines of business, business extensions, acquisition targets and joint venture partners.
Before joining Clear Channel, Perez was executive vice president of marketing and communications for the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars from 2002-2004, where he oversaw all ticket sales, new media, marketing and broadcasting efforts for the team. During his tenure, Perez negotiated a long-term radio broadcast agreement, designed and executed marketing and promotional campaigns, negotiated title sponsorship of ticket products and revamped the franchise’s research efforts to support a newly implemented customer service department.
Preceding that position, Perez worked at Hicks Sports Group from 1998 – 2002, where he served as executive vice president of business development for two years, with a focus on broadcasting and new media. Perez previously also served as vice president of business development from 1998-2000. Prior to joining the Hicks Sports Group, he was the director of business development for Madison Square Garden from 1996 – 1998.
Perez earned his juris doctorate degree and MBA from Stanford University and his bachelor of business administration from the University of Texas at Austin.
The NBA, founded in 1946, is a global sports and entertainment brand that features 30 teams in the United States and Canada. During the 2007-08 season, the NBA distributed games and programming to 215 countries and territories in 41 languages. The league’s worldwide reach can also be seen with 76 international players from 31 countries and territories on NBA rosters. As fans witness tremendous performances on the court, some of the NBA’s most significant efforts occur off the court. NBA Cares is the league’s social responsibility initiative that builds on its long tradition of addressing important social issues in the U.S. and around the world. Through this umbrella program, the NBA, its teams and players have committed to donating $100 million to charity, providing a million hours of hands on service to the community and creating 250 places where kids and families can live, learn or play. NBA Cares works with internationally-recognized youth-serving programs that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes, including: UNICEF, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.
Turner Sports, Inc., a Time Warner company, presents some of the best and most popular sporting events worldwide and is a leader in televised and online sports programming. With events airing on TBS and TNT, Turner Sports’ line-up includes NASCAR and NASCAR.COM, the NBA, Major League Baseball, professional golf, PGATour.com and PGA.com. Turner Sports also runs operations for NBA Digital, which includes NBA TV, NBA.com, WNBA.com, NBADLeague.com and NBA League Pass.
Mike Zarren
Assistant Executive Director of Basketball Operations/Associate Counsel
Boston Celtics
A lifelong Celtics fan and season ticket holder, Mike Zarren is the Celtics’ Assistant Executive Director of Basketball Operations and Associate Counsel. Now in his sixth year with the team, Mike is the team’s lead in-house counsel, responsible for all the team’s legal functions including drafting and assisting in negotiation of all sponsorship, vendor, media, and player contracts.
In addition to his legal responsibilities, Mike is widely recognized as one of the leaders in the field of advanced statistical analysis of basketball players and teams, and is an important part of the team’s strategic planning and player personnel evaluation processes. Mike is also the team’s salary cap and collective bargaining agreement expert, and is responsible for the development of new technologies for front office and coaching use, including the team’s best-in-class statistical database and video archive/delivery system.
A graduate of Harvard Law School (where he served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology) and of the University of Chicago (where he worked with “Freakonomics” author Steven Levitt), Mike served as a law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was also previously a management consultant for Fortune 500 firms across a wide variety of industries. A native of Swampscott, Massachusetts, Mike is a member of the bars of New York and Massachusetts and of the Board of Overseers of The Waring School.
