The Docket
The matters we're tracking, and what they change.
Compiled from public filings, court records, league statements, and published reporting. Status reflects the last verified date shown on each entry and may not capture subsequent developments. Commentary and analysis, not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed through this content.
Matters are being verified before they post.
League
Angle
Type
| Matter | League | Angle | Status | Next date | Freshness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalshi Preemption KalshiEX LLC v. state gaming regulators — sports event contracts and CEA preemption | multi | Gambling | Split 2-1 against Kalshi; cert pending Next: Nov 9, 2026 — Kalshi's response due at the Supreme Court on New Jersey's petition, Flaherty v. KalshiEX, No. 26-299 Whether the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state gambling law as applied to sports event contracts. If it does, a federally regulated exchange can offer sports wagering nationwide without a single state licence — including in states that have never legalised it. The Third Circuit said Kalshi is likely right; the Ninth said it is not. That split is the shortest path to Supreme Court review of who regulates sports betting in the United States. | Nov 9, 2026 Kalshi's response due at the Supreme Court on New Jersey's petition, Flaherty v. KalshiEX, No. 26-299 | Last verified Oct 9, 2026 Changed 25 Sept |
| MLB CBA Major League Baseball Collective Bargaining Agreement — 2026 expiration | MLB | Labor & CBA | Expires Dec 1 — lockout expected Next: Dec 1, 2026 — Major League agreement terminates at 11:59 p.m. Eastern (Art. XXVI) The agreement expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on December 1, 2026, and the owners are seeking a salary cap for the first time since 1994. A cap is the one term the union has never accepted in its history, which makes this the least tractable bargaining position in American sports labor. If the parties reach impasse rather than agreement, the mechanics that follow — lockout, status quo, or decertification — are the same ones that produced free agency in every other league. | Dec 1, 2026 Major League agreement terminates at 11:59 p.m. Eastern (Art. XXVI) | Last verified Oct 9, 2026 Changed 4 Sept |
| House v. NCAA House v. NCAA | NCAA | Antitrust | Objector appeal filed Converts college athletics from an amateurism model to a revenue-share model with a per-school cap. The cap is the point: it replaces one compensation ceiling with another, and whether that survives the same antitrust scrutiny that killed the last one is the open question. | — | Last verified Oct 9, 2026 Changed 5 Oct |
| Johnson v. NCAA Johnson v. NCAA | NCAA | Employment | On remand Tests whether athletes are employees under the FLSA. Revenue share is a contract question; employee status is a labor question — and it is the one that brings minimum wage, hour tracking, and the possibility of collective bargaining with it. | — | Last verified Sep 4, 2026 Changed 31 Aug |
| NFL Sunday Ticket In re NFL Sunday Ticket Antitrust Litigation | NFL | Antitrust | Submitted — 9th Cir. The clubs pooled their out-of-market broadcast rights and sold them as one product. Whether 32 separately owned teams can do that without it being coordination is the exact question American Needle left open for everything outside the Sports Broadcasting Act's carve-out. | — | Last verified Oct 9, 2026 Changed 9 Mar |
| NBA CBA NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement | NBA | Labor & CBA | In force to 2030 Next: Oct 15, 2028 — Deadline to serve written notice exercising the mutual option to terminate The opt-out date matters more than the expiration date. Leverage in a CBA cycle is set by who can credibly walk first, and that is a calendar question before it is a bargaining one. | Oct 15, 2028 Deadline to serve written notice exercising the mutual option to terminate | Current Changed 28 Jun |
| Eligibility MDL In re NCAA Eligibility Rules Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 3198 | NCAA | Antitrust | Transfer denied Twenty-one eligibility suits against the NCAA, filed across eleven districts, and a motion to gather them before one judge. Consolidation is usually described as housekeeping; here it decides which circuit's law shapes the eligibility rules and how quickly an athlete can get an injunction. A player suing for one more season needs a ruling in weeks, and an MDL is not built to move in weeks. | — | Last verified Oct 9, 2026 Changed 2 Oct |
| State NIL Laws State NIL Statutes — Conflict Tracker | NCAA | NIL | No upcoming effective date There is no federal NIL standard, so a collective's compliance obligations change at the state line. The schools operating under the most permissive statute set the recruiting floor for everyone else, which is why the map keeps moving in one direction. | — | Last verified Sep 4, 2026 Changed 1 Aug |
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