Dan Matheson
About
Dan Matheson is the Director of the Sport and Recreation Management (SRM) program. He also teaches as an adjunct faculty member in the College of Law. From 2016-21, Dan served on Iowa’s Presidential Committee on Athletics, including two years as chair. In 2017, he was named the Dean's Distinguished Lecturer in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In 2016, he received the University’s highest teaching honor, the President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence.
Prior to joining the University of Iowa faculty, Dan worked as an NCAA Associate Director of Enforcement and as the New York Yankees Director of Baseball Operations. He regularly provides insights during media coverage of sport industry news; his contributions have appeared in such media outlets as ESPN, the New York Times, PBS, The Athletic and SiriusXM. He has published more than a dozen articles on college athletics issues for CollegeAD.com, SportsLitigationAlert.com and the publication College Athletics and the Law.
In his teaching and other service to the campus, Dan prioritizes experiential learning and connecting students with employers. Dan has developed and taught courses that provided hands-on experiences for SRM students with organizations such as the Chicago Blackhawks and NASCAR, and he teaches courses in the College of Law that involve simulations of Major League Baseball salary arbitration hearings and NCAA infractions hearings. One of Dan's recent course highlights is development of a new interdisciplinary course that simulates an agency representing student-athletes in activation of their name, image and likeness (NIL) rights. To add realism to the learning environment, the NIL course collaborates with a small group of Iowa student-athletes who play the roles of hypothetical agency clients during the semester.
Since his first academic year at Iowa in 2011-12, Dan has led a popular field trip program that has provided opportunities for hundreds of Iowa students to meet with and learn from executives at such organizations as the Indiana Pacers, NCAA, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Chiefs, USA Track & Field, Big Ten Conference, Tennessee Titans and many other prominent sport organizations.
Courses taught
Liability in Sport and Recreation
Sport Administration
Risk Management
NIL: Simulated Agency Experience
Sport and Recreation Business Practicum
Sports Law
Baseball Salary Arbitration
NCAA Infractions Process
Sport Business Practices
NCAA Rules Compliance and Enforcement
Sport and Recreation Promotion
Educational/Research interests
Intercollegiate athletics administration
NCAA compliance, infractions and rules enforcement
Alternative dispute resolution in sports
Athlete personnel management
Negotiation
Experiential learning
Student mentoring
Field trip leadership
Select Presentations
2024 Univ. of Iowa College of Law and Iowa Board of Regents panel on policy challenges for Iowa and the nation. Invited panel organizer, presenter and moderator: “Pay for Play: Should College Athletes be Considered University Employees?”
2023 Univ. of Iowa College of Law, Innovation, Business & Law Center. Invited presenter during spring speaker series on name, image and likeness in college sports: “A Skier, a Kicker, and an Avatar Walk Into a Bar…Where the NCAA Went Wrong on NIL.”
2023 Big Ten Academic Alliance/Academic Leadership Program. Invited panelist: “Name, Image and Likeness.”
2023 New England School of Law, Entertainment and Sports Law Organization. Invited panelist: “Game Changers in Compliance: Sports Law Career Insights Panel.”
2022 Babson College, Sports Business Society. Invited presenter: “Career Paths and Professional Development in the Sport Industry.”
2021 Univ. of Iowa Center for Human Rights, program for delegation of justices, magistrates and administrators from the Kenya Judicial Service Commission. Invited presenter: “Alternative Dispute Resolution: Arbitration.”
2021 Univ. of Iowa College of Law, Innovation, Business & Law Center. Invited panelist: “Antitrust and Athletics: A Panel Discussion of NCAA v. Alston.”
2021 Loras College, Sports Management program. Invited presenter: “Professional Development Strategies in the Sport Industry and Current Events in the Business of Intercollegiate Athletics.”
2021 Univ. of Idaho, Sports Management Club. Invited presenter: “Career Paths and Professional Development in the Sport Industry.”
2017 Univ. of Iowa, Hawkeye Lunch and Learn series. Invited presenter (in Iowa City and Des Moines): “The Classroom as a Practice Field.”
2016 Univ. of Iowa, Greek Week Educational Presenter: “Professionalism, Networking and Preparing for your Dream Career.”
2013 Univ. of Iowa, Presidential Committee on Athletics. Invited presenter: “The NCAA Enforcement Process.”
2012 Univ. of Iowa College of Law. Invited panelist: “Alternative Career Paths with a Law Degree.”
Honors and Awards
Dean’s Distinguished Lecturer in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (2017 and 2018 calendar years)
University of Iowa President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence (2016)
