Access to Sports Justice and Resolution of Sports-related Disputes in the United States

Abstract

Access to proceedings of resolving the disputes in U.S. sports is an essential tool in the fight against unfair practices under the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC)'s jurisdiction, by increasing transparency and fairness for the USOPC and all relevant National Governing Bodies (NGB), identifying and uncovering unfair practices and encouraging the use of judicial and arbitral review of the rules in as a prerequisite to uniformity of the Ted Stevens Act and the USOPC Bylaws proceedings under the USOPC's jurisdiction. Promotion of the right of equal access to dispute resolution for all U.S. sports participants empowers them to obtain justice fairly and rapidly held on the merits by the Dispute Resolution Unit (DRU) under the USOPC's jurisdiction. It particularly encompasses a right to request and access out-of-court procedures for resolving sports disputes, in particular through statutory complaints procedure under the Ted Stevens Act and the USOPC Bylaws. This paper sets out legal aspects of the process of resolving a dispute or conflict between different parties in U.S. sports, based on dispute settlement requirements of the Ted Stevens Act and the USOPC Bylaws and interactions with the USOPC, NGBs, disputing parties and other stakeholders under the USOPC's jurisdiction.