Media & Entertainment Law

Retired NFL Players Win Suit Against NFLPA

By Rick Karcher, Michael McCann, Geoffrey Rapp, Greg Skidmore, and Howard Wasserman

According to an AP report, the jury awarded the class of retired NFL players $28.1 million in damages?including $21 million in punitive damages? in its suit against the NFL Players Association.

As the report notes:

Hall of Fame cornerback Herb Adderley filed the lawsuit last year on behalf of 2,056 retired players who contend the union failed to actively pursue marketing deals on their behalf with video games, trading cards and others sports products.
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Lawyers representing Adderley and the retired players told the jury during the nearly three-week trial that the union actively sought to cut them out of licensing deals so active players could receive bigger royalty payments. As proof, the retirees pointed to a 2001 letter from an NFLPA executive telling Electronic Arts Inc. executives to scramble the images of retired players in the company's popular ''Madden NFL'' video game, otherwise the company would have to pay them.

More on this to come?

Full post as published by Sports Law Blog on November 10, 2008 (boomark / email).