2016 was a landmark year for women-related sports law stories. Because of several prominent lawsuits and controversies on both the amateur and professional levels, gender equality, domestic violence and sexual assault challenges garnered the kind of national attention often reserved for male-dominated sports scandals.
The year began with the NFL’s highly publicized attempt to have women break through the glass ceiling of league executives and ended with the NFL’s feeble attempt to handle another domestic violence controversy. In between, the U.S. women’s national soccer team, the Women’s Tennis Association and the NCAA incited a national conversation over equal pay for female athletes and sexual assault on college campuses.