I was in NYC last week for the annual dinner of the Media Law Resource Center. Wonderful event. The pre-dinner panel was on hate speech and it intersected with the sports law world, with of course the Washington Redskins as Exhibit "A".
The room was packed with luminary lawyers and numerous opinions on the subject. What is the proper standard? I am not offended by the Boston Celtics (a reference to the historically large Irish-descended population of the city) but I had been raised to hear that "Canucks" was not a polite term, and now we have a hockey team so-named. Is the free market to determine whether there should be a trademark in a name? Should a sports arena be a "safe place" as the term is used on college campuses. Will ever-changing standards mean that teams need to change their names? My wife's high school went from the Braves to the Patriots. My partner Lori Kozak blogged on this subject. I extend the dialogue and welcome useful commentary from readers.
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