I used to write the sports technology roundup at TechGraphs, an internet website that died, and now I am writing the sports law roundup at ALDLAND, an internet website.

After a week off for Christmas, we’re back with the top sports-related legal stories from the past week:

• Soccer CBA: The collective-bargaining agreement between the U.S. Women’s National Team Players’ Association and the U.S. Soccer Federation is set to expire this weekend, and reports, centered around the union’s termination of its executive director on Wednesday, indicate that the two sides are unlikely to reach a new agreement in time. Compensation appears to be a central issue of contention for the players, who already have a pending wage-discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Absent a new agreement before the deadline, the existing CBA would remain in place (though either side then would have the right to terminate the agreement on sixty-days’ notice).
• NFL head injuries: The lawsuit filed last month by thirty-eight former NFL players against the league and its teams seeking an amendment to the NFL-NFLPA CBA to provide for workers’ compensation benefits for CTE for living patients and loss-of-consortium compensation for their spouses is over. In an apparent attempt to avoid having the case lumped in with already-pending NFL concussion litigation, which is in the settlement phase, the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed this suit and intend to re-file individually in various state courts.
• Soccer witchcraft ban: This isn’t really a legal update, but it has been a slow few weeks in the sports law world, so there’s room for a note on the national governing body of soccer in Rwanda’s new ban on witchcraft during games. The restriction only applies to coaches, and the penalty is a four-match suspension and a fine. It appears that sorcery, however, remains legal in Rwandan soccer.

Sports court is in recess.