NFL Lockout 101 With Gabe Feldman
The NFL lockout, which finally ended on Monday (July 25), lasted 135 days. For Gabe Feldman it may have been the longest-running class he's ever had to teach. Feldman, an associate professor of law and director of the Sports Law Program at Tulane, has been perhaps the most visible media analyst offering clarity on the legal complexities of the labor dispute.
Gabe Feldman says his work as a media analyst fits nicely with his work in the classroom. “It all becomes teaching material for me. It's a great time to be a sports law professor and a sports law student.” (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)
Prominently featured as a regular contributor on the NFL Network, Feldman says that his work as an NFL legal analyst has in many ways complemented his work at Tulane Law School.
“The legal issues raised by the NFL labor battle are the exact issues I research and teach at Tulane,” says Feldman, who teaches courses in sports law, contracts, antitrust and labor. “My role as an NFL Network analyst allowed me to share my work with a broader audience.”
Feldman also has been a go-to source for a variety of other media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, as well as a host of local television and radio programs. The Times-Picayune named him one of its 25 most influential persons in South Louisiana sports and Sports Illustrated included him in its “Twitter 100” of essential online sources for the magazine's reporters and editors.
“It's not quite Harvard Law Review,” quips Feldman, “but it's good publicity for the school and the sports law program, and it is an honor to be recognized by local and national media.”
If his participation over the last few months in covering the lockout has taught Feldman anything, it's the enormous amount of time and resources that go into reporting on stories of this size and nature.
“It gave me great insight into the sports media world and how hard all of the people involved in the sports media industry have to work to cover a complicated story like the lockout,” says Feldman.
Now that the lockout is over, Feldman hardly has time to take a breath. Asked if he expects to have a role in covering the upcoming NBA lockout, he says, “Yes, and it has already started. The NBA lockout will be a much bumpier road than the NFL lockout.”
Stay tuned.
