Quote Originally Posted by paulwoods13 View Post
There's no doubt that the CFL's existence could be threatened because of legal action over past concussions. The NFL coughed up $1B to former players -- the CFL would be put out of business if it were ever ordered to pay even a fraction of that. That said, if and when the league has to fight such action in the courts, it will need the services of an expert legal team of labour and litigation specialists. There's little to no chance, IMO, that the league will look to either of those specialized areas of the law for the commissioner role. For one thing, the league has managed to argue successfully (so far, at least) under labour law that retirees have no choice but to pursue grievances through the union. So there's no imminent danger of some massive lawsuit hitting the league.
I would leave that to the lawyers. I have been saying it for a decade; liability and insurance will threaten professional sports to the core. Especially the dumb ones. I think the NHL is cruising for a bruisin.' Bettman is a lawyer, and he won't be able to prevent it, so making a lawyer Commissioner doesn't make it go away, true. It may not be the magic elixir but it just helps with a broad general understanding of the Law. How can this not be helpful. It's for this reason (and many others) that you'll see a man with a legal background, on the short list for this job.