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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Federal Appeals Court Declines To Overturn D.J. Williams' Drug Suspension

A federal appeals court yesterday declined to overturn a drug suspension of Broncos LB D.J. Williams, agreeing with a lower court that labor law gave the judiciary few options to overturn an arbitrator’s decision within the context of the CBA. The ruling comes as a New Orleans federal court is deciding whether it should overturn multiple arbitrator decisions in the Bountygate cases, though that court is currently shuttered because of Tropical Storm Isaac. Williams's lawyer, Peter Ginsberg, also represents Saints LB Jonathan Vilma, who is suing the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell for his year-long suspension. In the Williams case, the NFL suspended him for six games last season, but the suspension was stayed while his case made its way through the courts. Williams argued the drug collection protocols were violated when he was tested. While the arbitrator agreed the NFL and NFLPA should tighten their collection procedures, he did not overturn the suspension. A lower court then ruled it could not step in because labor law largely prevents courts from interfering with CBA matters. “In doing so, the court noted that the narrow standard of judicial review applicable to labor-arbitration awards limited its analysis,” the appeals court ruled, which denied a request for oral arguments. It is unclear how this case might affect the Bountygate cases.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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