HeinOnline is excited to announce our new database, Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment, otherwise known as BLASE! Never before in a single digital platform, users now have one-step access to business and legal aspects of sports and entertainment in more than 1.3 million pages of critical information! BLASE includes highly editorialized articles and cases covering more than 55 sports and entertainment topics selected by two experts on the subjects. Research across more than 8,000 scholarly articles and dive into hundreds of government documents including hearings, CBO Reports, CRS Reports, and much more!

About the Database

Edited by Frank Houdek and Ed Edmonds, HeinOnline’s Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment (BLASE) is designed to assist researchers in locating sources relevant to the many issues surrounding the critically important subject areas of sports and entertainment, both of which have now attained global prominence. The database builds upon HeinOnline’s historical strengths in legal periodical literature, case law, and U.S. federal and state materials by providing a unique topical arrangement for the documents within each tab, while also adding many important resources not previously available in HeinOnline. The editors also provide carefully selected lists of court decisions important to both issues, along with citations and brief annotations describing the significance of each case.

Subcollections Included:

• All Titles – Topic coded
• Books – Topic coded
• Congressional Documents – Topic coded
• Other Government Documents – Topic coded
• Legislative Histories – Topic coded
• National Sports Law Institute
• Periodicals
• Bibliography – Topic coded
• Scholarly Sports Articles – Topic coded
• Important Sports Cases – Topic coded
• External Sports Links – Topic coded
• Scholarly Entertainment Articles – Topic coded
• Important Entertainment Cases – Topic coded
• External Entertainment Links – Topic coded
• Athlete Agents Act (NCCUSL)
• Reference Sources

About Topics

The backbone of this database is the topical arrangement created by the editors after analyzing more than 8,000 scholarly articles. A topic has been assigned to every title in BLASE, further organizing the content within each tab. Access the topics within a tab by clicking “Topic” under the browse options. For example, navigate to the “Topic” view under the Books tab.

In the “Topic” view, users will see the number of titles currently assigned to that topic.

Sports Topics in BLASE

More than 50 topics available!

Entertainment Topics in BLASE

More than 50 topics available! 

Scholarly Articles*

To view scholarly articles, click the hyperlinked topic name. By default, articles are arranged by most-cited, but use the facets  at the top of the page to sort by Article Title, Author, Year (Newest First), or Year (Oldest First). At the top of the page, search the results by title or author. Using the options on the right-hand side of the page, view the article’s ScholarCheck statistics, email or download the article, or save the article to your MyHein account, a personal bookmarking tool.

Scope Notes and Case Annotations

To help illuminate the editors’ approach when assigning material to topics and to define the reach and coverage of a particular topic, each topic listed under Scholarly Sports Articles and Cases and Scholarly Entertainment Articles and Cases is given a scope note. The scope note explains the focus of a given topic and, by extension, areas that a topic does not cover. While scope notes are not always provided next to the topics listed in the remaining tabs, this same approach (with slight modifications) is also used for the material and topics in the rest of the database. Users can click the question mark in front of any topic to display its scope note.

Important Cases

There are two case law tabs within BLASE, one for sports and one for entertainment. More than 120 Important Sports Cases and more than 65 Important Entertainment Cases are listed alphabetically by topic. Users can click the question mark to display the associated scope note for each topic. Not familiar with a specific case? No problem! Click the case name to display an annotation for the case. To view a case, click the case citation to be taken to the full text.

Specialized Sources

Athletes Agents Act (NCCUSL)
The National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) was established in 1892 to draft and promote the passage of model legislation where uniformity among states is desirable. A drafting committee met for more than three years to address statutory concerns regarding agents and athletes, eventually developing model legislation covering registration requirements, disclosures, specific contractual terms, and more. Users can view the meeting drafts, agendas, memorandums, and final acts of the committee.

National Sports Law Institute
Founded in 1989, the National Sports Law Institute (NSLI) is affiliated with Marquette’s Sports Law program. Its mission is to be the leading national educational and research institute for the study of legal, ethical, and business issues affecting amateur and professional sports from both an academic and practical perspective. It provides educational opportunities for law students as well as current and future leaders in the sports industry. Conference proceedings, books, and periodicals from the Institute are included in BLASE.

For more information on this new database, view the LibGuide!

About the Editors

Frank G. Houdek holds B.A., J.D., and M.L.S. degrees from the University of California. Houdek has previously served as a librarian at Lawler, Felix, and Hall (an LA law firm), Associate Director of the Law Library and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law at USC Law Center, and Law Library Director and Professor of Law at Southern Illinois University. Most recently, Houdek served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Southern Illinois University School of Law until he retired in 2014.

Ed Edmonds holds A.B., M.L.S., and J.D. degrees from the University of Notre Dame, the University of Maryland, and the University of Toledo, respectively. He previously served as the law library director at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at William & Mary, the Loyola University New Orleans School of Law, and the Law Library of the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. Edmonds served as the director of the Kresge Law Library at Notre Dame from 2006 until his retirement in 2016.

*Users must be subscribed to the appropriate HeinOnline collection(s) to view the articles linked under the scholarly articles tabs.