[co-author: Sydney Graves, Law Clerk]
As teams, schools, and other sports employers collect increasingly detailed biometric data through wearable technologies, questions about who owns that data, how it can be used, and what legal protections apply are becoming just as important as the technology itself. Recent NCAA guidance on the responsible use of performance technologies reflects this shift, emphasizing that institutions should think beyond athletic performance and develop clear governance for athlete data. This Insight explains why wearable technology is a sports employment issue, the evolving legal landscape, and practical considerations for sports employers that collect, use, or share athlete biometric data.
Wearable Technology Has Become Standard Practice, and the NCAA Is Responding
Professional teams, colleges, and even many high schools now routinely use wearable technologies like Whoop, Oura, and Garmin to track heart rate, sleep, movement patterns, location, and more. The data is valuable for informing injury prevention, workload management, rehabilitation, player development, and return-to-play decisions.
But, this also produces enormous amounts of sensitive, personal data, creating questions about the appropriate and legal use of athlete data, especially as it becomes the industry standard for team management, contract negotiations, and more.
The NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports recently urged member institutions to...
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