With over 25 years of specialized experience, Robert is a dedicated attorney whose passion for sports shines through his work. His practice centers on collegiate and professional sports, including name, image, and likeness (NIL) matters, where he helps clients navigate the often-confusing web of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules and various state laws to earn compensation for the use of their personas in areas such as advertising and social media.
Robert is uniquely qualified to advise clients in this new NIL space and other emerging issues in the rapidly changing field of college athletics. Prior to joining Shumaker, he served as the Athletics Integrity Officer (a first-of-its-kind role where he worked to ensure that intercollegiate sports were conducted ethically and with integrity) at Penn State University, where he oversaw one of the nation’s largest athletic departments as it emerged from a period of crisis in integrity matters that included Title IX, employee issues, and investigations, along with the legalization of sports betting and NIL. He also held teaching appointments at Penn State Law and in its School of Labor and Employment Relations. Robert’s time in academia, which includes leading sports management and sports law programs at New York University and Ohio University, also led him to develop an NIL course that is currently being taught at the prestigious Boston College, as well as numerous publications in reputable journals such as Marquette Sports Law Review.
In his legal practice, Robert was an active player agent for over a decade and negotiated more than 100 player and endorsement agreements across a variety of sports. He also advised a range of teams and players as the Principal of Boland Sports Practice Group, LLC, where his former clients include franchise acquisition groups bidding for National Football League (NFL) teams such as the Buffalo Bills and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Robert also led an NFL head coaching search for the Cleveland Browns. In his consulting work, he led two college conference realignment reviews for a league and an institution. Sports teams across the nation have benefitted from Robert’s innovative legal insight.
Robert’s sports law expertise is also widely sought by a variety of media outlets. He has recently appeared on or been quoted by ABC, CNN, Sports Illustrated, MSNBC.com, The Associated Press, USA Today, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Media Mentions:
- 03.31.2024 Kim Mulkey: What She Might Have Said Better – A Case Study, Culture in Sports.com
- 03.04.2024 Shumaker Attorneys Win Preliminary Injunction Against NCAA, Legal Reader
- 02.27.2024 Shumaker Attorneys Win Preliminary Injunction Against NCAA, Attorney at Law Magazine
- 11.30.2023 'This isn't the 11 herbs and spices': Inside this unprecedented Knicks-Raptors lawsuit, ESPN
- 07.22.2023 Oregon Ducks beach volleyball players detail disparate treatment that experts say could violate Title IX, The Oregonian
- 04.22.2023 N.F.L. Walks a Fine Line on Players’ Betting, The New York Times
- 01.20.2023 NCAA to Congress: Stop us before we NIL again, Deadspin
- 01.13.2023 Q&A: Discussing the Future of NIL With Seton Hall University Sports Law Professor Robert Boland, Esq., The Business of College Sports
- 08.18.2022 Here's how state NIL laws could challenge the NCAA's interim policy, ON3NIL
- 07.20.2022 Sports Lawyer Robert Boland Joins Shumaker’s Sports Group in Of Counsel Role, Sports Law Expert
- 06.08.2022 Months of controversy dog Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC owner David Tepper, WFAE 90.7