Legal news fꦫrom the overlapping world of sports betting and player likeness rights, as the Major League Baseball Players Association has filed lawsuits against a handful of operators.
The news, , via Front Office sports:
In essence, the allegation seems to be that the providers are using player names and images for promotional purposes (as opposed to mere news or information purposes) without paying any kind of licensing fee for the name, image, and likeness rights that the players have conveyed to the union. I’d imagine the providers have their own opinion on why they are permitted to do what they do.
One of the chief functions of the MLBPA is to manage and monetize those NIL rights on behalf of its player members, so this kind of battle is pretty much de rigueur. That is to say, whatever anyone’s opinion on the ultimate question, the fact of making these requests – fighting, if necessary in their view – is just kinda part of what the MLBPA is supposed to do.
Awkwardness abounds in this space, given the business relationships that exist between and among the betting properties, the unions, the leagues, and the media (disclosure: that’s us!). News is news, so I’m covering this news as far as that final group goes, but as for the initial three, it’s probably going to be very tricky to navigate. We know that MLB, for example, is deep into business relationship with FanDuel as its official sports betting partner, while individual teams like the Cubs are deep into a business relationship with DraftKings as an official partner. Throw in the continuously fractious relationship between the MLBPA and MLB, and there are going to be some knife’s-edge conversations and negotiations throughout this process (indeed, if we’ve reached the litigation stage, there probably already have been).
I highly doubt anyone is going to want this to actually go to court, and while I can’t opine on the merits of these particular suits, I can say from experience that these kinds of cases pretty much always resolve themselves with a business deal. Purely a guess? The union probably wants to get some long-term contracts in place, and they hope these lawsuits give them the business leverage to get a good deal done for their members.
We’ll see where these go, including whether the league gets informally involved to nudge one side or the other, and the extent to which the named providers diverge in their approach to dealing with the suits.
