So maybe you pay for your fantasy sports leagues because there were some extra features a provider offered or you couldn’t find the free version hidden underneath the pay version on Yahoo! But a good many do play fantasy sports online or in leagues with their friends for free or for a pot of money which gets paid out 100%. That may all change as player associates in a number of sports are looking for some of the money for the use of their names and/or the use of their statistics.
By Steve Patterson
NFL Players Associations
A federal case has been filed in Minnesota by CBS to pre-empt an NFL Players suit to stop all parties from using player’s statistics in online fantasy football leagues. The players want to control the use of the information which CBS Interactive feels is public property and cannot be protected. This argument seems to make a lot of sense and players should not be able to exclude third parties from using information that could easily be collected from watching the events themselves.
MLB Players
The MLB Players Association filed a similar suit in Missouri against a company that was using fantasy stats for leagues without permission. They main difference is the argument had to do with the names of the players being used and not the stats themselves. This case was lost by the players which is somewhat shocking. The argument for the use of the names seems to be winnable by all players associations as not anyone can through the name of a famous player on a card and sell it without the rights to do so.
Look for additional lawsuits to follow as players try to control and profit from the use of their identities and stats.