USA Law and Practice Contributed by: Irwin A. Kishner, Daniel A. Etna, Joel Wagman and Barry Werbin, Herrick, Feinstein LLP
in an appeal under the LMRA. Otherwise, the FAA’s appeal procedures are likely to apply. The standard for vacating an arbitration decision is high, and courts are generally deferential to arbitra - tion decisions since the parties agreed to arbitration in lieu of using a court to settle the dispute. Courts will generally uphold the decision unless the arbitrator exceeded their authority under the terms of the CBA. Similarly, under the FAA, a party may seek to vacate an arbitration award where: • the award was procured through corruption, fraud or undue means; • there was evident partiality or corruption among the arbitrators; • the arbitrators were guilty of misconduct, and the rights of a party were prejudiced; or • the arbitrators exceeded their powers or so imper - fectly executed them that a mutual, final and definite award upon the subject matter submitted was not made. 7. Employment Contracts and Rights 7.1 Sports-Related Employment Contracts Relationships between athletes and sports organisa - tions in football, basketball, baseball, hockey and soc - cer are typically handled by employment contracts, commonly referred to as standard player contracts or uniform player contracts (SPKs). An SPK is typically a form document that has been negotiated between the league and the players’ union pursuant to a CBA. Most CBAs require that the league does not approve an individual player’s SPK unless it has been negoti - ated with an agent registered with the player’s union, or the player has negotiated the contract themselves. Generally, the Commissioner of the league has the power to reject an SPK if the agreement violates any provision of the CBA, including its salary cap and reg - istered agent provisions. Typical Terms of the SPK The standard SPK typically requires the player to:
• participate in meetings, training camps, workouts, practice sessions, regular season games, exhibi - tion games and postseason games; • license the player’s name(s), image, likeness and other identifying information and characteristics to the team for promotional purposes, and seek the team’s consent before engaging in any media or public appearances; • participate in reasonable activities promoting the team and league as directed; • maintain good moral character, good citizenship, good sportsmanship and integrity, including by not betting on games, accepting anything of value to attempt to fix a game, or using or providing others with prohibited substances; • maintain good physical condition and notify the team of injuries and illness, including notifying the team of injuries incurred as a result of the player’s employment with the team; • abstain from playing other sports or engaging in activities that may involve a substantial risk of per - sonal injury without the consent of the team; and • accept an assignment of the SPK in the event the team trades the player to another team, and faith - fully perform the duties as required by the SPK for the new team. While CBAs may restrict the subjects on which teams and individual players may negotiate in an SPK, the parties are generally permitted to negotiate the play - er’s signing bonuses, contract restrictions on trading the player and compensation in the event of injury, among other provisions. Salary Caps Most major American professional sports leagues employ some mechanism to regulate player compen - sation to promote competitive balance and financial stability among teams via a salary cap, which limits either the total amount a team may spend on its roster or the amount it can spend on each individual player. Notably, MLB has not implemented a salary cap, but instead uses a competitive balance tax (“luxury tax”) system, by which teams that exceed a pre-determined payroll threshold must pay a tax to the league/to fund player benefits.
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