What are some examples of the federal government getting involved in matters related to sports? ISTR that Congress was in some way involved in the Black Sox scandal, and of course there were congressional investigations into steroid abuse a few years back. What else?
*I read some sports column in which the columnist mentioned that President-elect Obama is a college football fan, and that he has no love for the BCS and would like to see a playoff. The columnist opined that Obama should use his powers as president to effect a playoff system. Would he even have the power to order it via executive order?
The government generally stays out of matters relating to sports. The only times they get involved are when laws are broken (for things like gambling or drugs).
Barring laws being broke, all government does in sports is build stadiums for the teams (state and local governments, that is, except, of course, for stadiums in Washington DC).
As for the BCS, the President has no legal authority to tell them what to do.
There’s also Title IX, although, as the wiki article says (and I was previously unaware of this), the actual law says nothing specific about sports. It had the biggest impact on sports, though.
Here is an example of federal government involvement in sport. Minister for Sport - The Hon Kate Ellis MP. Sport is such an important aspect of life - supporting sporting activities is essential. Is that what you had in mind?
I’m far from expert in the details, but Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption would seem to qualify as fairly heavy “government involvement” - both in and of itself, and in the way that it gives Congress a stick that they occasionally use: “Do what we ‘suggest’ or we’ll remove your antitrust exemption.”
I believe that the other major sports may have similar (but possibly more limited) exemptions, but I don’t say that with any real confidence…
Only baseball has an antitrust exemption, but the government involvement is only related to safety and drug issues. The US Government strongly suggested they wanted a baseball team in Washington DC, but they never specifically threatened to remove the antitrust exemption over it.
State regulation of martial arts does, of course, fit into the “safety” issue, and Title IX is legal.
But the government does not tell sports franchises how to run their businesses. It’s only when a scandal occurs (steroids, gambling) that the government gets involved. It does not try to regulate the rules of a sport.
There’s the government involvement in PRO sports and then COLLEGE sports… it’s two completely separate rationales for the government to arrive at the same ultimate position, which is (surprise) we have the right to meddle with your business whenever and wherever we deem fit.
First: Pro sports… professional sports organizations HAVE to operate as monopolies and cabals. Think about it, you can’t just “decide” you want to start an NFL team, or you’re going to play on Tuesdays… you have to be awarded a franchise the other owners agree on, etc. So, the federales can say “Oh well if you’re going to continue to enjoy our protections, we can jump in if we ever think too many of you are using steroids”, etc.
COLLEGE, on the other hand, is a more direct tie… think of how many teams are state universities (which get some federal funding), and even the occasional federally-funded university (service academies, etc.), and the gov’t can argue “you take federal dollars, you’re gonna play by our rules”…
Of course, short of any of that, they could still just pull the “Interstate Commerce Clause” and say sports is cross-state business.
But then that’s all rambling about HOW federal government gets involved. As to the original point of WHEN… it’s remarkably rare. It’s generally when someone needs a banner issue to bang their chest about. They hold the occasional congressional hearing on why there are still no black head coaches, but it doesn’t lead to actually doing anything about it.
State athletic commissions go far beyond simple safety. Depending on the jurisdiction, referees may be employees of the Commission, they collect taxes on tickets, and of course they set and enforce rules (many of which are to do with competitiveness, fair dealing and morals, not safety).