OT: Sports legal question

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by ksabet

I know this doesn't fit here but I've had a question for a while and don't know anyone who can answer it from a legal perspective.


I am all for big hits in football, home plate crashes in baseball, fights in hockey and hopefully basketball just dying.

It seems that in most leagues the injury issues and fear of legal responsibility has
caused rules to be put in place that take away from the game and mater them down.

My question is pretty simple. Why can't that individual leagues have players sign waivers saying they will never sue the leagues for long term injuries and in order to have the privilege of playing and making millions you have to sign the waiver?

I am sure there is probably a really simple answer, so I apologize if this is relatively elementary.

Simple answer, lawyers(some) are greedy and will sue anybody for any reason as long as they think they can get paid. Players know/knew the consequences no matter what anybody says and have the entire time. They get paid insane amounts of $ and most spend it as fast or faster than they get it and are trying anything they can to get some free $. Yes it is 100% the players fault and anybody that says different is either a lawyer or a liar. This has been in the news for 40 years and I get as good laugh how they always make it sound like it is a new problem that they did not know about before.

[ALR-bishop]

Is is fortunate that the greedy character defect is limited to "some" lawyers and does not impact other professions and people

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Is is fortunate that the greedy character defect is limited to "some" lawyers and does not impact other professions and people

Seriously Al trolling from you. I never said it did not impact other professions and I did say "some" because there're also some really great ones and average ones just like in any other profession.

I will say that the only bad transaction I had on this board was with a former lawyer. Have had several great transactions with other board members that are lawyers so yes "some" being bad works for me.

[JTysver]

Not sure I understand the premise correctly.
Is the intent to allow unfettered play where guys can get hurt?

I should remind people that the spitball was outlawed not because it was a hard pitch to hit, but because Ray Chapman got killed by a "Shine ball".

The games have always changed for the safety of players.

[Snapolit1]

A waiver of liability is only effective if you identify the specific risks being waived. A good lawyer can always argue that particular risks were not disclosed. Plus the players unions will never agree to letting players sign waivers.

[ALR-bishop]

That's me alright, Ben, thanks

[Jobu]

I have not followed the details too closely, but I think the NFL was/is on the hook for this because they actively told players that head trauma was no problem and lead "research" to back up their claims. I seem to recall that the league even issued a pamphlet to every player at the start of a season telling them not to worry about head injuries or listen to actual research on head trauma.