Leigh Steinberg Series for the Protection of Student Athletes

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Virtual on B-CLE
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The Leigh Steinberg Series for the Protection of Student Athletes is a thought-provoking and insightful program designed to address the complex intersection of immigration law and the NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policy. Through five distinct sessions, this series highlights the unique challenges faced by international student-athletes and offers practical, legally sound solutions for navigating this evolving landscape

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Session 1: How NIL and Immigration Collided

Recording

This presentation will focus on the history of the NCAA’s Name, Image and Likeness (“NIL”) policy and how these rules, designed to benefit NCAA student-athletes, resulted in a disparate impact on international athletes participating in NCAA sports. Our discussion will include the following topics:

  • The history of NIL, including the right of publicity and the anti-trust litigation that resulted in the adoption of the “NIL” rules by the NCAA.
  • An overview of the players in the new NIL industry: collectives, agents, schools, outside counsel.
  • The definition of employment under immigration law, and how that definition may differ from those under the DOL and IRS regulations.
  • The limitations of the F-1 student visa and permissible employment under that nonimmigrant classification.
  • Why current immigration laws offer no legal avenue for most international student-athletes to take advantage of their NIL rights

Speakers:

Ksenia Maiorova, Practice Group Leader, Individual and Olympic Athletes, Green & Spiegel, LLC

Flavia Santos-Lloyd, Certified Immigration Specialist by the CA Bar and Founder, Santos Lloyd Law Firm, PC

Dan Lust, Counsel, Morrit Hock & Hamroff, PC

Session 2: Mother May I? – NIL x Immigration workarounds

Recording

This presentation will build on the discussion outlined in Module 1 and tackle the question of whether various “workarounds” proposed and implemented by NIL industry stakeholders are compliant with immigration law. Our discussion will include the following topics:

  • Review of the definition of “employment” as covered in Module 1
  • The role of the consular officer and the spectrum of risk involved in relying on workarounds to the F-1 rules
  • Performing NIL activities outside the United States
  • The concept of “passive income” and whether compliance is possible with both immigration law and the NCAA rules
  • Workaround case studies – what works and what does not

Speakers:

Dan Berger, Partner, Green & Spiegel

Ksenia Maiorova, Practice Group Leader, Individual and Olympic Athletes, Green & Spiegel, LLC

Christopher Richardson, BDV Solutions

Session 3: The Band-Aid Solution: P-1, O-1 and EB-1A visas for international student-athletes

Recording

Building on topics covered in Modules 1 and 2, this presentation will discuss how some international student-athletes who seek to commercially exploit their NIL rights may benefit from visa classifications that are typically utilized by athletes who have completed their collegiate careers. Our discussion will include the following topics:

  • Overview of the P-1A “Internationally Recognized Athlete” classification and NIL case study
  • Overview of the O-1A “Extraordinary Ability” classification and NIL case study
  • Overview of the EB-1A “Extraordinary Ability” classification and NIL case study
  • Discussion of the drawbacks and benefits of each classification in the NIL context

Speakers:

Ksenia Maiorova, Practice Group Leader, Individual and Olympic Athletes, Green & Spiegel, LLC

Amy Maldonado, Founder and Principal, Law Offices of Amy Maldonado, LLC

Session 4: In search of a solution: the quest to make NIL universally available to all international student-athletes 

Recording

This module will focus on the statutory, regulatory, and policy changes that would be required to make NIL available to all international student-athletes on par with their US counterparts as well as current advocacy efforts in the NIL x Immigration context. Our discussion will include the following topics:

  • Statutory solutions and overview of the bills addressing international student-athletes and NIL that have been introduced so far
  • Regulatory solutions and the challenges of notice and comment
  • Policy solutions and the current push for comprehensive advocacy
  • What about the J-1?

Speakers:

Jonathan Grode, Managing Partner, Green & Spiegel, LLC

Ksenia Maiorova, Practice Group Leader, Individual and Olympic Athletes, Green & Spiegel, LLC

Amy Maldonado, Founder and Principal, Law Offices of Amy Maldonado, LLC

Prof. David Weber, Creighton University

Session 5: The rolling snowball: classification of student-athletes as employees

Recording

This module will discuss the legal mechanisms that could lead to the classification of student-athletes as employees and the immigration implications of these scenarios. Our discussion will include the following topics:

  • The proposed settlement in House v. NCAA and the distinction between direct payment models and NIL
  • The NLRB decision Trustees of Dartmouth College
  • The impossibility of I-9 compliance
  • Solutions that could address both NIL and employee status related issues

Speakers:

Ksenia Maiorova, Practice Group Leader, Individual and Olympic Athletes, Green & Spiegel, LLC

Amy Maldonado, Founder and Principal, Law Offices of Amy Maldonado, LLC

John Mazzeo, Associate General Counsel, Vertical Screen, Inc.

Prof. David Weber, Creighton University