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Michael McCann Spans the World of Sports at MC Law School


MC Law Dean Wendy Scott joins sports law expert Michael McCann at the auditorium at the school in downtown Jackson on May 24.

Deflategate, NCAA probes, the 2016 Olympics in Rio, and the list of timely topics never ends for sports law expert Michael McCann.

If there’s an all-star roster for sports law professionals, McCann’s name would be among the standouts in America’s legal profession.

Delivering lively lectures for two weeks as the Distinguished Visiting Hall of Fame Professor at the Mississippi College Law School is something McCann enjoys doing every May. It’s right up there with the New Englander cheering for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

A “Sports Illustrated” legal analyst, McCann covered the gamut at MC Law from baseball fans getting injured by foul balls to brawls breaking out among NBA players. Concussions involving NFL players, lucrative contracts for pro athletes, domestic violence, and waivers for youth sports, there’s really no subject off his radar screen.

Go around the lecture hall on the downtown Jackson campus, and it was easy to identify MC Law students relishing every moment of his lectures playing out as YouTube sports videos roll.

“This is one of the best classes I’ve had since I’ve been here,” said MC Law student Daryl Porter, Jr., 25, of Summit. “I like sports and sports law,” says the 2013 Ole Miss graduate. “He knows what he’s talking about.”

While in Jackson McCann penned a piece for “Sports Illustrated” website on whether Ole Miss head football coach Hugh Freeze will testify in the case of former Rebels star Laremy Tunsil. The NFL’s Miami Dolphins recently drafted Tunsil and signed him to a contract exceeding $12 million.

Problems for pro players off the field, big profits for franchises and hefty TV sports contracts for colleges are always of interest for the director of the University of New Hampshire Law School Sports and Entertainment Law Institute. Fans on sports talk radio can never get enough.

As classmates jotted down notes on their computers, MC Law student Michquel McCullough of Canton gave high marks to the visiting professor from Boston. “He’s constantly engaging and has a wealth of knowledge about sports. He makes it interesting.”

Men outnumbered women in the class on Tuesday. But the women listening to his lecture for more than two hours on May 24 were impressed, too. Dean Emeritus Jim Rosenblatt suggested that she take the class, and Lauren Gast, 26, of Gulfport is glad she signed up. “Professor McCann has a lot of personal stories to share,” says the diehard New Orleans Saints fan.

Of all the sports stories over the years, McCann estimates he’s spent the most time on the NFL’s Deflategate story that marked its first anniversary in January 2016. The complex saga continues to put New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady on the legal hot seat. Brady in May appealed the most recent ruling to a panel of federal judges. Will the future Hall of Famer be forced to sit out as many as four NFL games next season? Stay tuned.

A few years ago, McCann began his teaching career at the MC Law School in the capital city. Rosenblatt invited the rising legal star to return every spring to share his insights with students. Some of his students in New England have gone on to become professional sports agents. There’s also a market, McCann says, for students to work as attorneys for college sports programs.

McCann says he cannot recall a time when sports legal issues took a day off around the nation or across the globe.

Rosenblatt, MC Law Dean Wendy Scott, and students are just delighted he keeps returning to Mississippi College to lecture on sports issues every spring. “Professor McCann’s legal analysis that he shares in his Sports Illustrated posts are just as clear and logical as his classroom instruction,” Rosenblatt says. “Professor McCann is an amazing talent.”