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It was a Friday evening in early November 2013, and Michael McCann was at a swanky steakhouse in Concord, N.H. The 91制片厂鈥檚 School of Law had just hosted the first day of its annual Intellectual Property Scholars Roundtable, and McCann, a law professor and director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute, had joined his colleagues for a meal after the event. Conversations were in full swing, dinner had just been served, and McCann was just about to take his first bite of steak. And then his phone started buzzing.

鈥�I have to go,鈥� McCann told Alexandra Roberts, an assistant professor of intellectual property at the law school. 鈥淭he O鈥橞annon decision just came down.鈥�

McCann excused himself and dashed off, steak uneaten, a quiet night with coworkers replaced with a pressing deadline for his other job 鈥� as a legal writer and analyst for Sports Illustrated magazine. For months now, he had been following the case of former UCLA basketball player Ed O鈥橞annon, who had slapped the NCAA with a class-action lawsuit for using the images of former and current student athletes for commercial purposes, and it was go time. He had just a couple hours to read up on the details, write a story and turn it in.

It was, Roberts recalls, a 鈥淪uperman/Clark Kent moment,鈥� of which McCann seems to have many. 鈥淢ike is kind of a superhero,鈥� she says. 鈥淗e鈥檚 got two full-time jobs, and he makes them both happen successfully and with aplomb.鈥�

McCann does have something of the air of a superhero about him. He鈥檚 the definition of mild-mannered 鈥� casual suits, tousled hair and a relaxed smile. But under the 39-year-old鈥檚 boyish looks is a palpable, humming energy; even when sitting still, he seems as if he鈥檚 in motion. When the conversation turns to sports or law, a subtle change comes over McCann, a little like the moment before Clark Kent disappears into a phone booth and reappears as Superman. He still looks relaxed, but his mind is working swiftly 鈥� forming a complex legal analysis, teasing out implications and creating and explaining an argument that could satisfy a demanding judge and a stubborn sports fan in a few moments.听

He himself sees his career in a more modest light, even though, on a given day, he may deliver a lecture to students on athletic contract negotiations, write a story for Sports Illustrated on complex league regulations and offer analysis of a sports star鈥檚 murder trial for CNN or ESPN. He says it鈥檚 less Superman and more Tony Phillips, the versatile major league ballplayer who played seven different positions during his four years with the Detroit Tigers.听

鈥淧hillips is the kind of player you want to be if you鈥檙e a sports lawyer,鈥� McCann says. 鈥淪omeone who鈥檚 able to play everywhere and be conversant in anti-trust law, in criminal law, in contracts, intellectual property and tort law.鈥�

That鈥檚 precisely the sort of lawyer and journalist McCann is 鈥� and plenty of people have noticed. While a full-time professor at the Missisippi College School of Law from 2005 to 2008, McCann racked up a full slate of awards, including three different 鈥減rofessor of the year鈥� awards in 2008. On social media, he is a sports law celebrity 鈥� close to 37,000 sports fan follow his Twitter account, @mccannsportslaw. In 2011, the Society for Social Psychology and Personality awarded him its Media Prize.听 In 2012, he made The Huffington Post鈥檚 list of the 鈥�40 Must-Follow Twitter Accounts for NBA Fanatics鈥� and The Sporting Chart鈥檚 list of the country鈥檚 鈥淭op 50 NBA Minds鈥�; the following year, Boston Magazine added him to their list of the 鈥渂est Boston sports personalities on Twitter.鈥� When sports fans and media outlets want a fresh take on the story of the day 鈥� from national stories like the Boston Marathon bombing to coverage of a NHL labor dispute 鈥� they turn to McCann. But it wasn鈥檛 so long ago that McCann was on the other side of the desk.听

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Ahead of the Story

Somewhat improbably, it was NBA commentator Dick Vitale who set the Massachusetts native on the path to becoming one of the country鈥檚 top听 sports lawyers. A diehard Boston Celtics fan who had suffered through the 1990s as the team struggled in the wake of superstar Larry Bird鈥檚 retirement, in 2001, McCann was keeping a close eye on the team鈥檚 NBA draft picks when Vitale said something that caught his attention.听

鈥淚 remember watching the draft, and hearing Dick Vitale say it was a big mistake that these kids were jumping from high school to the NBA,鈥� McCann recalls. Vitale went on 鈥� players drafted out of high school couldn鈥檛 make it in the league. They performed poorly on the court and, off the court, faced a litany of legal and financial troubles. But for McCann, it didn鈥檛 add up.听

鈥淚 thought: he鈥檚 wrong. Empirically, it鈥檚 incorrect,鈥� he says. So he set out to prove it. He was in his last year of law school at the University of Virginia and taking a class with Donald Dell, a sports attorney and former agent who had represented tennis stars Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors, among other athletes. He dug into the data and did a study of all the NBA players who鈥檇 been arrested in the last 15 years. The average age turned out to be 26 or 27 鈥� proof, McCann says, that an early NBA career had little to do with off-court troubles.

Dell gave McCann an A, and he published his findings in the school鈥檚 sports law journal, and that was it, at least for a few years (鈥淚t was in a law review,鈥� he says; 鈥減eople don鈥檛 read them鈥�). He finished law school and took a job in Boston, practicing anti-trust litigation and some intellectual property law.听

And then Maurice Clarett sued the National Football League. It was 2004, and Clarett, a star running back for Ohio State University, had retained New Jersey attorney Alan Milstein to fight a ruling that said he was too young to be drafted into the NFL. McCann sent his law review article to Milstein, figuring it might be of some interest. Milsten invited McCann to join the case, and though Clarett ultimately lost 鈥� the decision against him was written by future Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor 鈥� it was a turning point in McCann鈥檚 career. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think she got that one right,鈥� McCann says, laughing, of Sotomayor. 鈥淏ut that experience was really important. I tell my students: I wasn鈥檛 athletic, I鈥檓 not a schmoozer. I wrote a paper, and that got me into (sports) law. This is a path for them to get ahead of a story, to really embrace a topic and analyze it in a way that鈥檚 interesting.鈥�

When it comes to sports law, McCann has been ahead of the story for years.
After the Clarett case, he enrolled at Harvard, where he earned a master鈥檚 degree in law and started on the track to becoming a law professor. His first teaching job was at the University of Mississippi Law School, a place he still returns every summer to teach a sports law class. But with family still in Massachusetts, he jumped at the chance to move to the Vermont Law School, where he was named director of the school鈥檚 sports law institute in 2010. Three years after that, he crossed the border to New Hampshire to establish the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at 91制片厂 Law.听

Despite the media spotlight, McCann thrives on working with students. 鈥淗e has a huge following among students 鈥� and there are students around the building who鈥檝e identified him as their mentor,鈥� says Roberts, with whom he co-directs the Institute. Because he鈥檚 has one foot in the academic world and another in the larger sports media world, 鈥渉e鈥檚 got his finger on the pulse鈥� of sports law in a way few others do, Roberts explains. Indeed, McCann鈥檚 two worlds overlap frequently. McCann talks in class about the stories he鈥檚 working on, and though he doesn鈥檛 tell them to, students read his work and follow him on Twitter, watching in real time as McCann applies the legal principles he talks about in class to major cases.

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In the Spotlight

McCann鈥檚 students 鈥� and sports fans around the world 鈥� have come to see that there are few places where sports and the law don鈥檛 intersect. It鈥檚 not just contract negotiations for big-name stars and collective bargaining agreements for players unions. The last few years have seen high-profile lawsuits over how the NFL handles concussions among its players and whether college athletes should be paid.听

And, increasingly, the legal troubles of athletes, team owners and sponsors are played out in public. In 2014, the NFL came under fire for its handling of domestic violence allegations against Ray Rice, and Adrian Peterson鈥檚 child abuse charges ignited a national debate on corporal punishment. Perhaps 2014鈥檚 biggest sports law story was the strange saga of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. In April of that year, a recording surfaced of Sterling making racist remarks to a female friend. By the end of the summer, Sterling had been banned for life from the NBA and his wife, Shelly, had forced the team鈥檚 $2 billion sale.

The morning the Sterling story broke, McCann woke up to a text message from CBS Sports Radio host Maggie Gray, asking him to come on that day鈥檚 show and talk about Sterling. The whole thing was 鈥渙dd and offensive and had a lot of things going on,鈥� McCann says. He went on Gray鈥檚 show, wrote an analysis for Sports Illustrated about how the NBA could respond to the video, and, quite suddenly, found himself covering the story for the rest of the summer.

鈥淚t just exploded. You had the president talking about it while he was in China, Lebron James talking about boycotting the NBA, sponsors talking about cutting ties, [NBA commissioner] Adam Silver issuing a lifetime ban,鈥� McCann says. He filed some 50 stories for Sports Illustrated during the next three months. It was sports law鈥檚 moment in the international spotlight: the Sterling case encompassed internal league regulations, tax law and estate law across multiple jurisdictions.听听听 听

It was a different basketball scandal that got McCann the SI gig, back in 2007: radio personality Don Imus had made disparaging comments on-air about the Rutgers University women鈥檚 basketball team, and an editor asked McCann to offer his analysis of the situation for the magazine. Already several years into his own sports law blog at that point, McCann agreed, and his analysis caught the eye of SI website editor B.J. Schechter, who brought McCann on as an occasional contributor. Recently, he wrote coverage and analysis of the Aaron Hernandez murder trial in Boston.

鈥淗e understands how the average person thinks. He鈥檚 got the mind of a lawyer and the sentimentality of a fan, and I think that serves him very well,鈥� Schechter says. 鈥淭hese are very complex issues and people don鈥檛 want legal jargon. They want it explained in a way that鈥檚 not patronizing and is understandable.鈥�

Schechter recalls working with听McCann in 2012 on a series of stories about Bobby Petrino, the former University of Arkansas football coach whose motorcycle accident uncovered a scandal: his affair with 鈥� and illegal hiring of 鈥� a 25-year-old former Arkansas volleyball player named Jessica Dorrell. When Arkansas blocked the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request McCann filed for documents related to Dorrell鈥檚 hiring, saying that it only had to fulfill FOIA requests from Arkansas residents, he had a former student practicing law in the state file the FOIA request on his behalf. The documents came through 鈥渁nd we had a blockbuster story, because we were able to get a treasure-trove of information very quickly, in an innovative way,鈥� Schechter says. 鈥淢ike thinks on his feet. He鈥檚 resourceful. He doesn鈥檛 take no for an answer. 鈥� He finds a way to get it done.鈥�

While Schechter鈥檚 assessment might carry a whiff of scouting report about it, McCann is the first to say he鈥檚 not an athlete. Growing up, he played basketball (鈥淚鈥檓 not tall,鈥� he says) and baseball (鈥淚鈥檓 not fast鈥�), but 鈥淚 was never anything special,鈥� he says. Today, his activity of choice is running. And though his prolific posts for Sports Illustrated and active Twitter feed might lead one to believe that he is constantly watching and thinking about sports, that鈥檚 not the case. 鈥淚 am definitely on the lookout for issues I can write about,鈥� he says. 鈥淪ome people think I鈥檓 at home, watching sports constantly. But I鈥檓 much more likely to be watching a movie with my wife.鈥�

He鈥檚 also likely to be up late, filing a story or answering emails from students. 鈥淗e鈥檒l take a student鈥檚 resume and reach out in every direction until he finds them a job,鈥� says Roberts. 鈥淎nd he鈥檚 been an incredible mentor to me. Our offices are a few feet apart, and he always makes time for me. He鈥檚 a good cheerleader and an amazing person to have on my team.鈥�

For sports fans following the latest legal tribulations of their home team or favorite athlete, and for students around 91制片厂 Law, McCann seems ubiquitous, in the classroom with students or talking to colleagues in the hall one minute; on a cable news program or a radio show the next. Roberts says he鈥檚 the reason many students have been attracted to the sports and entertainment law program.

鈥淭here are a lot of people who enjoy Mike鈥檚 work, who feel like they know him even if they don鈥檛,鈥� Roberts says. 鈥淭here are students who are here because of Mike. They say, 鈥業 want to be where Mike McCann is.鈥欌�澨�

They could be referring to the classroom or the web. But what they likely mean is that they want to be one step ahead, on the cusp of the next frontier of sports, anticipating the next big story, ready to play.~

Of Torts + Touchdowns: McCann has been a media go-to for Deflategate 鈥� the NFL investigation into whether the New England Patriots deliberately deflated footballs used during their AFC victory over the Indianapolis Colts 鈥� and now, he鈥檚 parlaying that expertise into a first-of-its-kind undergraduate course at 91制片厂. Called Deflategate: the Intersection of Sports, Law and Journalism, the course will be offered in Durham this fall, and will cover the many legal and journalistic issues the controversy has raised.听

Introduced shortly after the NFL announced disciplinary actions against Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, the course itself has garnered a good deal of media attention 鈥� and debate about whether a single sports controversy, no matter how significant, is fodder for a college-level course. But McCann explains that the course is not about deflated footballs; 鈥渋nstead,鈥� he says,听 鈥渋t is about the interplay between those footballs 鈥� along with numerous other sports 鈥榯hings鈥� 鈥� and the legal, regulatory and journalistic systems governing sports.鈥�

Margaret McCabe, an associate dean at 91制片厂 School of Law, came up with the idea, as a way to strengthen the law school鈥檚 connection to undergraduates on the Durham campus. As McCabe told the Chronicle of Higher Education, grabbing the attention of undergrads means working a little harder to make dry-sounding topics like antitrust law, labor law, and tort law seem more exciting.
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MICHAEL MCCANN鈥檚 Greatest Hits

As a lawyer and a journalist, Michael McCann sets the pace when it comes to covering sports law. Since joining Sports Illustrated as a staff writer in 2007, McCann has covered dozens of cases, scandals and controversies and written hundreds of stories. Here are five of his favorites:

1 听The Aaron Hernandez murder trial

McCann watched the former Patriots star鈥檚 10-week trial for the murder of Odin Lloyd both in person and on video and wrote more than 40 stories about the case. 鈥淚t was a very consuming and serious story to report on and analyze,鈥� McCann says. Hernandez鈥檚 legal troubles aren鈥檛 over 鈥� he鈥檚 also been accused of murdering Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado outside a Boston night club in 2012. McCann will be covering that trial later this year. 听 听

2 听Donald Sterling and the Los Angeles Clippers

A tape of former L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling making racist comments surfaced in April 2014 and the resulting fallout became the sports law story of the summer. McCann wrote 30 articles for Sports Illustrated on the Sterling case and broke news that Sterling had threatened to sue the NBA. 鈥淚t was a fascinating story because it implicated so many different areas of law 鈥� contract law, freedom of speech, the rights of private associations to punish its members, and later, trust and estate law and mental competency law when Shelly Sterling became involved,鈥� McCann says.

3 听Ed O'Bannon v. NCAA

Should student athletes receive compensation when the NCAA uses their names, images, and likenesses on licensed products? That was the question at the heart of former UCLA basketball star Ed O鈥橞annon鈥檚 lawsuit against the College Athletics Association. The case began in 2009 and McCann followed it for five years, interviewing O鈥橞annon and NCAA officials and attending the trial in Oakland, Calif. in 2014. A judge found in O鈥橞annon鈥檚 favor, a decision McCann says had a profound impact on the NCAA.听

4 听Lance Armstrong

听The superstar cyclist fell from grace in 2013 when he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career. After admitting to doping, Armstrong gave his first exclusive interview to Oprah Winfrey 鈥� and his second to McCann, who interviewed Armstrong at his Austin, Texas, home. The interview happened after McCann and Armstrong exchanged messages on Twitter, and the three-hour conversation yielded one of McCann鈥檚 most memorable and popular stories, 鈥淢y Dance听with Lance.鈥�

5 听Jameis Winston

Since 2012, sexual assault accusations have dogged Winston, the star quarterback for Florida State who led the team to a Heisman Trophy victory during his freshman year. College officials cleared Winston of the charges in 2014, but there鈥檚 been criticism that officials mishandled the investigation because of Winston鈥檚 star status. McCann covered the story closely, and in a 2014 article, he proposed that Winston should have dropped out of Florida State, an analysis that 鈥渁ttracted a good deal of attention, including a lot of hate mail,鈥� McCann says. The allegations haven鈥檛 hurt Winston鈥檚 career prospects 鈥� he was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers鈥� first-round pick in the 2015 NFL draft.
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Larry Clow 鈥�12G is a freelance writer and editor based in Dover, N.H. He is the founding editor of听The Sound, an independent news weekly covering Seacoast N.H.

Originally published in听91制片厂 Magazine鈥�