Exploring Laws and Policies in American Youth Sports

Fall Symposia – More Than Play: How Law, Policy, and Politics Shape American Youth Sport

Presented by New England Law Review

October 30, 2025 at 7:00pm EST, New England Law Boston Cherry Room

Join us for an engaging event featuring Dionne Koller, author of “More Than Play,” as she explores the interplay between the laws and policies that shape youth sports. This thought-provoking book challenges the preconceived notions regarding an under regulated area of sports law, which impacts millions of children and families each year.

Koller, alongside Alfred Yen and Katharine Silbaugh, will discuss the book’s themes, including the entities that benefit from the current system and the political choices that protect these parties. In this insightful talk, Koller will highlight, through a blend of legal scholarship and social critique, long-held assumptions about youth sports. Koller further explains the structural inequities in youth sport, the role of public policy, the law in perpetuating these dynamics, and the need for reform.

Dionne Koller
Professor of Law & Director of the Center for Sport and the Law

Professor Dionne Koller is a leading scholar in sports law, with a particular focus in the areas of youth, Olympic and Paralympic, and education-based sports.

In addition to her publications, Koller plays an active role in helping to shape sports law and policy. She frequently consults with state and federal legislatures, testifying three times before Congress and helping to craft the groundbreaking Equal Pay for Team USA Act. In 2021, Sen. Maria Cantwell appointed Koller to co-chair the bipartisan Commission on the State of U.S. Olympic and Paralympics, established following investigations into systemic abuse within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movement. The Commission delivered its final report, “Passing the Torch: Modernizing Olympic, Paralympic & Grassroots Sports in America” to Congress in 2024.

In addition to her work as a Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, Koller serves as the director for the university’s Center for Sports and the Law. She is also a member of the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s Administrative Review Panel and is on the editorial board for the International Sports Law Journal.

In 2024, Koller was recognized with the Association of American Law Schools’ Sports Law Section award for significant contributions to the field of sports law. In addition, Koller has won numerous awards for her teaching, scholarship, and service–most recently, the University of Baltimore School of Law’s 2025 Outstanding Scholarship Award.

Prior to teaching law, Koller was an attorney with Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. in Washington, D.C. She earned her undergraduate degree here in New England at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Koller graduated with her J.D. and M.A. from George Washington University and earned an L.L.M. from Harvard Law School.