Marquette University Law School Marquette Law Scholarly Commons Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 1-1-1999 Spoiling a Good Walk: Does the ADA Change the Rules of Sport? Paul M. Anderson Marquette University Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/facpub Part of the Law Commons Publication Information Paul M. Anderson, Spoiling a Good Walk: Does the ADA Change the Rules of Sport?, 1 Va. J. Sports & L. 44 (1999) Repository Citation Anderson, Paul M., "Spoiling a Good Walk: Does the ADA Change the Rules of Sport?" (1999). Faculty Publications. Paper 548. http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/facpub/548 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Marquette Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Marquette Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SPOILING A GOOD WALK: DOES THE ADA CHANGE THE RULES OF SPORT? Paul M. Anderson, Esq.* TABLE OF CONTENTS IN TRO D U CTION ...................................................................................... 46 I. THE ADA: AN OVERVIEW ............................................................ 46 A . T itle I .......................................................................................... 4 8 B . T itle II .......................................................................................... 49 C . T itle III ......................................................................................... 50 II. THE ADA AS APPLIED TO SPORTS ............................................ 51 A . Interscholastic Sports ................................................................... 51 1. Pottgen v. Missouri State High School Activities Association ............................................................................ 53 2. Sandison v. Michigan High School Athletic Association, Inc ........................................................................................ 54 SB.A. Economics & Philosophy (cum laude), 1991, Marquette University; J.D. Marquette University Law School, 1995. Attorney Anderson is the Assistant Director of the National Sports Law Institute of Marquette University Law School, an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School, Chairman of the Institute's Alumni Board, and Member of the Advisory Panel to the Marquette Sports Law Journal. Mr. Anderson is a member of the Heartland Institute, the American Bar Association's Forum on the Sports and Entertainment Industries, the Sports Lawyers Association, and a Board Member of the Sports and Entertainment Law Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin. A former Editor-in-Chief of the Marquette Sports Law Journal, Mr. Anderson serves on the Editorial Board for the International Sports Journal and as a Reviewer for the Journal of the Legal Aspects of Sport. Mr. Anderson is also a Board member of the Wisconsin Tennis Association and a member of the United States Golf Association. Special thanks to Marquette University Law School second year student Scott Jensen for his assistance collecting research for this article, to Attorney Ante Z. Udovicic and Marquette Sports Law Journal Editor-in-Chief April R. Anderson for their editorial assistance in the preparation of this article, and very special thanks to Kerri Kuligowski for her patience, assistance, and support during the preparation of this article. HeinOnline -- 1 Va. J. Sports & L. 44 1999 SPRING 1999 SPOILING A GOOD WALK VOL. 1:1 3. Dennin v. Connecticut InterscholasticAthletic Conference, Inc.......................................................................................... 55 4. Johnson v FloridafHighSchool Activities Association, Inc ......55 5. McPherson v. Michigan High School Athletic Association, Inc ....................................................................................... 56 6. Conclusion ............................................................................57 B. The NCAA .....................................................................................58 1. Ganden v. National CollegiateAthletic Association ............ 60 2. Butler v. National CollegiateAthletic Association ................62 3. Bowers v. National CollegiateAthletic Association ..............63 4. The UnitedStates vs. The NCAA ..........................................65 5. Conclusion ............................................................................68 C. Other Non-Professional Sports ......................................................69 1. USA Hockey ..........................................................................69 2. Little League & Pony League Baseball .................................70 3. Bicycle Racing .....................................................................72 4. Conclusion ............................................................................72 D. Professional Leagues .....................................................................73 1. Stoutenborough v. National FootballLeague .......................73 2. Cortez v. NationalBasketball Association ............................74 3. Conclusion ............................................................................74 E. Sports Facility Cases .....................................................................74 III. CASEY MARTIN AND THE RULES OF GOLF .............................75 A. The PGA and Disabled Golfers .....................................................75 B. Casey M artin ..............................................................................77 1. The M otion ............................................................................79 2. The Case .................................................................................80 3. The Aftermath ...........................................................................82 4. The Appeal ............................................................................83 C. Ford Olinger .................................................................................84 IV. COMMON GROUND: THE ADA'S IMPACT ON THE SPORTS W ORLD ............................................................................86 A. Levels of Sport .............................................................................87 B. Eligibility Rules vs. Rules of Play .................................................87 C. Participation vs. Attendance ..........................................................89 D. Reasonableness ...............................................................................89 E. Custom & Practice ........................................................................90 V. CONCLUSION .................................................................................90 HeinOnline -- 1 Va. J. Sports & L. 45 1999 VOL. 1:1 VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF SPORTS AND THE LAW SPRING 1999 INTRODUCTION As a reflection of society itself, the sports world has become a battle ground where those who seek access to sports participation use laws of general application to make their inroad into sports. 1 Title IX and the Civil Rights laws are particular examples of this phenomenon. However, possibly no area has provided more debate and litigation than the participation of disabled athletes in sports. National attention has been focused on this area in 1998 through the example of Casey Martin. A friendly and talented young man, Martin needed an accommodation in order to participate in PGA Tour events and sued for the right to use a golf cart. His lawsuit demonstrated the power that the Americans With Disabilities Act ("ADA") possesses in changing the way that sports are played. In reaction to this lawsuit, many in the sports world have assumed that all sports have now become open to similar attacks and that, therefore, the games we have all come to know and love will be forever changed. This article will assess this fear. It will attempt to reflect on the ADA's impact at all levels of sport, and then use the Casey Martin case as an example of what can be expected from litigation in the future. Part I will provide a brief description and history of the ADA. Part II will catalog the ADA's impact at all levels of sport from interscholastic athletics, to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, to professional and other sports, and to its impact in the very facilities in which sports are played. Part III will discuss the Casey Martin case and subsequent litigation in response to that case. Part IV will then conclude with an analysis of the impact that the ADA really has on the sports arena in order to then answer the question "Does the ADA change the rules of sport?" 1. THE ADA: AN OVERVIEW The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 was passed with the purpose of "providing a 'clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities.' 2 While an in-depth i. For a strong series of articles by one author discussing the issues involved in disabled athletes' participation in sports, see Matthew J. Mitten, Amateur Athletes With Handicaps or Physical Abnormalitiesi Who Makes the Participation Decision?, 71 Neb. L. Rev. 987 (1992), Enhanced Risk of Harm to One's Self as a Justification for Exclusion From Athletics, 8 Marq. Sports L. J. 189 (1998); Sports Participation by "Handicapped" Athletes, 10 Ent. & Sports L. 15 (1992). 2. Julia V. Kasperski, Disabled High School Athletes and the Right to Participate: