An interesting lawsuit has been filed in a Massachusetts state court by the former agents of 21-year-old Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman –whom the Boston Red Sox have reportedly offered a $15.5 million contract–against his new agents for “stealing” Chapman as a client.
Following a Congressional subcommittee voting to prevent the BCS from declaring its culminating game the “national championship,” as Howard discussed on Wednesday, it appears that another legal challenge to the BCS may be brewing. ESPN.com’s Lester Munson reported on Friday that Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is prepared to file an antitrust lawsuit against the BCS as soon as early 2010. The suit would presumably be premised on the BCS’ exclusion of an undefeated Utah team from the national championship game last year. AG Shurtleff has scheduled a meeting with Christine Varney, the head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division, to ascertain whether the federal government would be interested in participating in the suit.
Yesterday morning four Patriots players — including Randy Moss and Adalius Thomas — were between 10 and 20 minutes late for an 8 a.m. meeting. It was snowing that morning in Massachusetts (which weather forecasts had predicted, so the snow was foreseeable to anyone with access to a forecast). Thomas had called the team to let them know he would be late due to weather; it’s unclear whether the other players did.
Yesterday, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce passed H.R. 390, which prohibits the “promot[ion], market[ing], or advertis[ing]” of a post-season Division I college football game as a national championship game unless it is the final game of a single-elimination post-season playoff tournament rather than the current BCS system. It also prohibits the sale, marketing, or advertising of merchandise related to a national-championship game unless it is for the final game of a single-elimination playoff tournament. The Federal Trade Commission is given enforcement jurisdiction, with the practices prohibited in the act treated as unfair or deceptive trade practices.
Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Notre Dame is interviewing Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly today to see if he is interested in their coaching vacancy. Tell it like it is. Notre Dame is soliciting Kelly to breach his contract with Cincinnati. Here you have a university that has made a substantial investment in a coach based upon his express contractual commitment to stay for a period of years in order to develop a successful program, and a coach who is going to speak to another school about leaving at a time his players are preparing for the biggest game of their lives in a few weeks.
I have a column up in the Huffington Post discussing the StarCaps saga and the recent suspension of Dwayne Bowe. For a different take on the issue, please check out Professor Standens post here. In a nutshell, I do not believe that the 8th Circuits decision in the StarCaps case poses a real problem for the NFL or other sports leagues. At least not quite yet. Professor Standen, in contrast, believes that the NFLs performance enhancing drug testing policy is now dead more…
I am a contributor to the Legal Broadcast Network, which was co-founded by environmental torts and consumer protection lawyer Jan Schlictmann, and I was interviewed this week by Scott Drake about a story that Rick also discussed in a different forum: the legal fallout of the Tiger Woods saga. Here’s the interview:
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The Lawyer 2 Lawyer show of the Legal Talk Network has a 30-minute podcast on “The Tiger Woods Saga” that can be downloaded from here. Josh Galper, partner in Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe’s Washington D.C. office, and I discuss and debate Tiger’s right to privacy and the impact on his image. more…
Last Tuesday was the deadline for amicus curiae briefs supporting the NFL in American Needle v. NFL. A number of supporting briefs were filed with the Supreme Court, and are now available for download:
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