For Sam Ehrlich, associate professor in strategy and entrepreneurship, July 31 has always been an important day.
“It’s the Major League Baseball trade deadline,” Ehrlich said. “And also, you know, not nearly as important, it is also my birthday.”
Long before he became an associate professor of legal studies in business at Boise State, a law scholar and a frequently quoted voice in the world of college athletics, he was just a kid fascinated by the ins and outs of sports.
“I’ve always just loved the behind-the-scenes part of sports, the roster management and all the issues behind it,” said Ehrlich.
Yet, it wasn’t until later in life that he truly began his career in sports. Ehrlich’s journey picked up speed during his undergraduate education when he took a sports law class.
“It really sparked the sports law part of it,” he said. “These legal issues have always been so fascinating to me.”
From there, his career followed a path that was anything but traditional.
Ehrlich attended law school and continued focusing on sports law, eventually pursuing a Ph.D. in the field. But before arriving in academia, he briefly worked in immigration law; in an especially unusual niche.
Ehrlich’s first law firm specialized in immigration cases involving… equestrian athletes?
“It was a very unique setup,” Ehrlich laughed, “Immigration law firms specifically for equestrian athletes.”
The firm represented athletes from around the world, including a number of polo players. “It’s been a hell of a ride,” Ehrlich said, describing a career detour that taught him considerably more about polo than he ever expected.
A seismic shift
Ehrlich’s academic career began at a particularly fascinating moment for college athletics. While he was working toward his Ph.D., the foundations of the NCAA were beginning to shift.
“I was doing my Ph.D. when these seismic changes started happening in the NCAA,” Ehrlich said.
Those changes were driven by a combination of legal challenges, state legislation and the growing movement surrounding name, image and likeness. “Everything kind of just took off from there,” said Ehrlich.
For a sports lawyer, the timing could hardly have been more interesting. College athletics was changing in real time, creating new legal questions surrounding athlete compensation, eligibility, governance and the future of the NCAA itself.
Ehrlich was paying attention. In fact, he turned that close attention into the College Sports Litigation Tracker, a website dedicated to following the lawsuits shaping the future of college athletics.
His work began attracting attention and journalists started calling.
Bringing Boise State to the national conversation
For Ehrlich, his first major national media appearance was a memorable moment.
“I’ve actually been (featured) a couple times now, but that first one was huge,” he said, discussing being quoted by The New York Times.
But what was once a pipe dream has become the norm. The calls have continued, in fact as I entered the room for my interview, Ehrlich was responding to CBS Sports reporters who’d reached out for his perspective. He has become an increasingly recognizable voice discussing the legal issues in college athletics.
“Right now, there’s a lot going on with college sports,” he said. “I’m a pretty popular guy right now and that’s an interesting feeling.”
Athletic connections
Ehrlich attributes a lot of his success to his relationship with Boise State Athletics. The connection began after athletic department officials noticed his work tracking college sports litigation and reached out to learn more about what he was seeing.
“They said, ‘Hey, we love what you’re doing. We want to talk to you and learn more about what you’re seeing,’” Ehrlich said.
From there, the relationship grew.
Ehrlich said the athletic department occasionally turns to him for insight into governance issues, while conversations with administrators help him understand the challenges facing college athletics from inside the industry.
“They lean on me sometimes to give them advice for governance issues, I’ve learned so much from them,” said Ehrlich “I think that more than anything else, the relationship helps my research because it helps me identify the key issues that are front and center.”
For a professor studying college athletics from an academic perspective, those conversations provide something textbooks and court documents cannot: perspective from the people living through the changes.
A never-ending journey
The world of college athletics is still changing. New lawsuits will emerge, new rules will be written and the questions surrounding the future of the NCAA will continue to evolve. For someone who has spent his career fascinated by the complicated world operating behind the games themselves, there may be no better place to be.
From a kid eagerly awaiting the MLB trade deadline to an immigration lawyer representing equestrian athletes, Ehrlich’s path to becoming one of college sports’ most recognizable legal voices has been anything but predictable.
But the fascination has always remained the same. That curiosity has taken him from the classroom at Boise State to conversations with athletics administrators and, occasionally, the pages of The New York Times.
And with college sports continuing to change in real time, it seems unlikely the phone will stop ringing anytime soon.
By Morgan Reah
Source: www.boisestate.edu
