Michael McCann Profile Photo

Michael McCann

Associate Dean for Intellectual Life
Director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute
Professor of Law (tenured)
Phone: (603) 513-5254
Office: Concord - UNH School Of Law, UNH School Of Law,
Websites:

Professor Michael McCann is the Associate Dean for Intellectual Life and Founding Director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute. 

McCann also teaches at Harvard Law School as a Visiting Professor of Law. He has also taught a Sports Law Analytics reading group at Yale Law School.

McCann has won the Professor of the Year Award multiple times for excellence in teaching. Graduating students selected McCann to deliver the faculty portion of the commencement address in 2015. In 2023, Prelaw Magazine named McCann to the 鈥淒ream Team of Law Professors."

In 2025, McCann won the Association of American Law Schools鈥 Law and Sports Section Award, a prestigious award honoring an individual who has made a substantial and significant contribution to scholarship, teaching and service in the field of sports law.

In 2023, McCann delivered the Keynote Address at the Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association鈥檚 32nd Annual Conference in Melbourne, Australia. The conference is one of the largest gatherings of sports attorneys in the world.

McCann has been an innovator in legal education, creating the first law school course on Name, Image and Likeness, producing an IP and antitrust law course at UFC, designing first-of-their-kind online programs, and building the much-publicized 鈥淒eflategate鈥 course.

McCann is one of the nation鈥檚 leading experts in sports law. In 2021, he testified before the U.S. Senate in a hearing that included NCAA president Mark Emmert and centered on NIL.

McCann is a best-selling author and an accomplished legal scholar. He and former NBA player Ed O鈥橞annon co-authored 鈥淐ourt Justice: The Inside Story of My Battle Against the NCAA鈥 (Diversion, 2018). The Christian Science Monitor named the book the No. 1 Sports Book in Spring 2018 and it led Amazon sales categories.

McCann is the Editor of 鈥淭he Oxford Handbook of American Sports Law鈥 (Oxford University Press). The book is assigned in sports law courses.

McCann has authored more than 30 law review articles, including placements in the Yale Law Journal, Boston College Law Review and Georgia Law Review. McCann鈥檚 scholarly writings have been cited as authority by federal appellate and district court judges. He has served as a JAMA peer reviewer. The Academy of Legal Studies in Business awarded McCann and co-authors the Best Sports and Entertainment Law Paper for 2023.

McCann has frequently appeared as a legal expert on national TV programs, including The Today Show and Good Morning America. McCann is also an award-winning journalist. In 2020, he joined Sportico, published by Penske Media (Rolling Stone and Variety). In 2021, McCann received Penske Media鈥檚 Journalistic and Creative Excellence Award 鈥渇or consistently going above and beyond to deliver compelling content.鈥 From 2007 to 2020, McCann authored more than 1,000 legal columns for Sports Illustrated. McCann was the first journalist to interview Lance Armstrong after Armstrong鈥檚 interview with Oprah Winfrey. He met Armstrong at his Texas home and authored 鈥淢y Dance With Lance.鈥

The International Business Times named McCann one of the 鈥11 Entrepreneurs, Marketers and Coaches to Follow鈥 in 2021. The Aspen Institute named him one of the 50 people to follow in 2021.

Along with Harvard Law School Professor Jon Hanson, McCann is co-founder of The Project on Law and Mind Sciences at Harvard Law School. Hanson and McCann were recipients of the 2011 Media Prize awarded by the Society for Personality & Social Psychology.

McCann served on the legal team of college football star Maurice Clarett in Clarett v. NFL, one of the most important cases in sports law history. McCann has also represented Your Call Football and other sports clients. He was Legal Counsel to Congressman Marty Meehan, an attorney at Boston law firms, and an aide to Attorney General Tom Reilly.

McCann is from Andover, Mass., and is a graduate o

Michael McCann

 

Courses Taught

  • LAW 460: Sports Law
  • LGP 922: Employment Law
  • LGP 956: Professional Sports Law
  • LGP 958: Sports Law
  • LGP 990: LawSpcTop/CrisisManagement Law
  • LIP 914: Amateur Sports Law
  • LIP 932: Name Image & Likeness in Sport
  • LRS 905: Independent Study
  • LSK 960: Law Journal Staff
  • LSK 961: Law Journal Editorial Board
  • LSW 905: Intro US Sports Betting Law

Education

  • J.D., University of Virginia
  • LL.M., Harvard Law School
  • B.A., American Government & Politics, Georgetown University

Selected Publications

  • McCann, M. (2024). New Amateurism. Texas A&M Law Review, 11, 869-909. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. (2024). Sharing Broadcast and Streaming Revenues with College Athletes, 15 Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law 187 (2024). Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law, 15, 187-200. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M., Edelman, M., & Holden, J. (2024). The Collegiate Employee-Athlete. University of Illinois Law Review, 2023, 1. Retrieved from

  • Dube, M., Galloway, L., McCabe, C., McCann, M., & Milstein, A. (2023). Out of Bounds? The Legal Implications of the Emerging Rivalry Between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. UNH Sports Law Review, 2, 174. Retrieved from

  • Edelman, M., & Holden, J. (2022). A Short Treatise on College-Athlete Name, Image, and Likeness Rights: How America Regulates College Sports鈥檚 New Economic Frontier. Georgia Law Review, 57, 1-78.

  • McCann, M. (2022). Missing Link: League Punishments of Team Executives.. Saint Louis University Law Journal, 61, 293-310.

  • O'Bannon, E., & McCann, M. (2018). Court Justice The Inside Story of My Battle Against the NCAA. Diversion Books.

  • McCann, M. (2018). Introduction: American Sports Law through Deflategate. In The Oxford Handbook of American Sports Law.

  • McCann, M. (2018). Leagues and Owners: The Donald Sterling Story. In The Oxford Handbook of American Sports Law.

  • McCann, M. A. (Ed.) (2017). The Oxford Handbook of American Sports Law. Oxford University Press. doi:

  • McCann, M. (2014). Do you Believe He Can Fly? Royce White and Reasonable Accommodations Under the Americans with Disabilities Act for NBA Players with Anxiety Disorder and Fear of Flying. Pepperdine Law Review, 41, 397-438. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. (2011). Antitrust, Governance, and Postseason College Football. Boston College Law Review, 52, 517-549. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. A. (2010). The NBA and the Single Entity Defense: A Better Case?. Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law, 1, 39-61. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. A. (2010). American Needle v. NFL: An Opportunity To Reshape Sports Law. YALE LAW JOURNAL, 119(4), 726-781. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. (2010). Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the Relationship between Leagues and Players: Insights and Implications. Connecticut Law Review, 42, 901-923. Retrieved from

  • Hanson, J. D., & McCann, M. (2008). Situationist Torts. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, 41, 1345-1453. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. (2006). It鈥檚 Not About the Money: The Role of Preferences, Cognitive Biases and Heuristics Among Professional Athletes. Brooklyn Law Review, 71, 1459-1528. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. (2006). The Reckless Pursuit of Dominion: A Situational Analysis of the NBA and Diminishing Player Autonomy. University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law, 8, 819-860. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. (2006). Social Psychology, Calamities, and Sports Law. Willamette Law Review, 42, 585-637. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M., & Rosen, J. S. (2006). Legality of Age Restrictions in the NBA and NFL. Case Western Reserve Law Review, 56, 731-768. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. A. (2005). Dietary supplement labeling: Cognitive biases, market manipulation & consumer choice. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF LAW & MEDICINE, 31(2-3), 215-268. doi:

  • McCann, M. (2005). Comparing Legal, Economic, and Legislative Approaches to Nutritional Labeling of Fast Food Items. Food and Drug Law, Regulation, and Education, 4(1).

  • McCann, M. (2004). Economic Efficiency and Consumer Choice Theory in Nutritional Labeling. Wisconsin Law Review, 2004, 1161-1244. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. (2004). Illegal Defense: The Irrational Economics of Banning High School Players from the NBA Draft. Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal, 3, 113-225. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. (2003). Message Deleted? Resolving Physician-Patient E-mail through Contract Law. Yale Journal of Law and Technology, 5, 102-140. Retrieved from

  • McCann, M. (2002). A Vote Cast; A Vote Counted: Quantifying Voting Rights through Proportional Representation in Congressional Elections. Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy, 12, 191-219. Retrieved from

  • Markel, D., McCann, M., & Wasserman, H. M. (n.d.). Catalyzing Fans. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: