Researching Hockey and the Law

We’ve noticed more hockey discussions than usual around UNC lately. While our neighbors to the north have always been passionate about the sport, something has sparked an unusual surge of hockey enthusiasm on campus. If you’re part of this growing interest in the sport or caught up in the Winter Olympics, you might be surprised to learn how many complex legal issues are at play every time players hit the ice.

If you’re looking for a potential topic for a course paper or research project, hockey raises plenty of interesting legal questions to explore. From international player transfers to image licensing, professional hockey touches many areas of law. Whether you’re already a hockey fan or looking for a compelling topic that connects sports and law, the following resources can help you explore the legal dimensions of the game.

Sports law

Professional hockey is a world of contracts, agents, liability, labor law, intellectual property, and more. If you’re researching sports contracts or considering a career in sports law, these books provide an overview of sports law and what it’s like to be a sports lawyer.

• Sports Law in a Nutshell (2022)
  A comprehensive introduction to the legal framework of professional sports.
• How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know (2018)
  Written by a sports attorney and agent, this is a practical guide to representing athletes and navigating legal issues in the sports industry.
• Sports Law and Regulation: Cases, Materials, and Problems (2022)
  A casebook covering contracts, league governance, international athletics, racial and gender equity in sports, and more.

Immigration and international law

While it may be called the National Hockey League, the NHL plays across two nations and fills its teams with players from countries as far away as Russia and Australia. International athletes face unique legal challenges related to visas, work permits, and navigating legal systems across borders.

• International Immigration and Nationality Law (2020)
  This is a regularly-updated looseleaf that serves as a comprehensive resources for issues involved in international immigration and nationality law. It includes a country-by-county format and highlights laws and regulation affecting immigration and nationality questions in 42 jurisdictions.
• LGBTQ Immigration: Ensuring Equality for All (2015)
  An introduction to LGBTQ immigration law and working with LGBTQ immigrants.

Privacy and public figures

Professional athletes are public figures, but they also retain privacy rights. For a research project exploring the tension between public interest and personal privacy, athletes provide fascinating case studies.

• The Rights of Publicity & Privacy (2025) (also available electronically via Westlaw)
  This treatise discusses the evolution of the rights of publicity and privacy, as well as current issues regarding these topics.
• Intellectual Privacy: Rethinking Civil Liberties in the Digital Age (2015)
  This book examines privacy and free speech in an era of constant media scrutiny and social media.
  

Representation and media law

Athletes must navigate questions of image and how they’re represented—whether over social media, through a television commercial, or on a cereal box. Students researching intellectual property, publicity rights, or media law will find rich material in how athletes control (or lose control of) their public image.

• Entertainment Law in a Nutshell (2025)
  A big picture overview of the intellectual property, contract, publicity, estate planning, and First Amendment issues that contribute to the field of entertainment law.
• Game Faces: Sport Celebrity and the Laws of Reputation (2016)
  A study of six sports figures, including one hockey player, and the legal ramifications of the cases that dealt with their privacy and image.
• Sports Law: A Practical Guide to Protecting the Interests of Athletes (2022)
  With sample documents, agreements, and practice tips, this book covers name, image, and likeness, intellectual property protection, and more.

Workplace rights and discrimination in professional sports

Professional athletes are employees, and subject to the same workplace protections as anyone else. If you’re researching employment discrimination or LGBTQ+ workplace rights, professional sports offers a high-profile context for exploring how these legal protections apply in practice.

• Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor, Gender, and Race in 21st Century Sports Law (2010)
  An examination of contemporary issues in sports law including labor, gender equity, and racial justice.
• Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Discrimination in the Workplace: A Practical Guide (2014)
  This work covers major topics in LGBTQ+ employment discrimination law.

For more curated lists…

If you’re interested in learning more about these topics or any other area of law, checkout the Library’s list of Research Guides.