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    Sports Law

         Sports law is a relatively recent area of law being established only a few decades ago. Sports laws deal with both amateur and professional sports, but involves labour laws, contract laws, antitrust laws, and tort laws among others. Amateur sports are distinguished from professional sports in that the athletes are engaged with little to no renumeration.

         In amateur sports, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the primary organization to deal with sports laws. Through a collection of bylaws, the NCAA governs everything from ethical conduct, financial aid, recruiting, gender equality, to academic standards. International amateur sports, on the other hand, are run by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which is made up of each country's own Olympic Committee. For example, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) governs all US athletes and the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 guarantees that they have the right to a hearing and appeal from the USOC.

         Professional sports are governed by each sport's respective association as well as related legal entities such as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB gives players the rights to form unions and player associations collectively bargain with sport's owners over wages, working conditions, etc. Labour issues make up a large portion of professional sports law issues. Nonetheless, antitrust and tort laws are also incredibly important. 

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