Piling on to what has been a crappy month of news for daily fantasy sports sites—except for the fact they recently had their busiest (and most profitable) weekend ever—one is now being sued by Redskins receiver Pierre Garcon.
“I am bringing this lawsuit against FanDuel for using my name, image, and likeness in both daily fantasy contests and through advertising on TV ads and infomercials. FanDuel has taken the liberty to engage in these actions without my consent and without proper licensing rights,” Garcon said in a statement, via Fox Sports. “As a result of these activities, FanDuel daily fantasy contests have shown increasing revenues leading to large profits. Therefore, on behalf of myself as well as any other players who are being treated unjustly, I chose to file a complaint.”
The lawsuit brought by Garcon isn’t the only one that is suing the sites, and FanDuel and DraftKings have been hit hard by allegations of what basically amounts to insider trading with the FBI and Congress taking notice and the state of Nevada banning them.
Now, at least one NFL player has decided he doesn’t appreciate FanDuel.
A class action lawsuit filed by attorneys for Redskins WR Pierre Garçon (on behalf of all NFL players) vs FanDuel. pic.twitter.com/mUVXLANGve
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 30, 2015
Interestingly enough this isn’t the first time Garcon has been involved with FanDuel. As of early last season, he used to promote the site on his Twitter account, as pointed out by the Big Lead.
That being said, the fact that Redskins WR Garcon once promoted FanDuel contests can’t look very good as a primary plaintiff.
— Legal Sports Report (@LSPReport) October 30, 2015
Also, it’s interesting that Garcon has set his sights only on FanDuel and not on, say, DraftKings. Now, why do you suppose that is?
DraftKings has a licensing agreement with the NFLPA. FanDuel does not. https://t.co/BkTp17K9iM
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 30, 2015
As Business Insider points out, though, a federal court ruled in 2006 that fantasy leagues can use a player’s likeness and his stats without a licensing agreement. Major League Baseball had said that fantasy leagues were illegally making money off players and their stats. But the U.S. District Court judge ruled that the First Amendment took precedent.
Said FanDuel in a statement to Business Insider: “We believe this suit is without merit. There is established law that fantasy operators may use player names and statistics for fantasy contests. FanDuel looks forward to continuing to operate our contests which sports fans everywhere have come to love.”
My most pressing question, though: What does Jeb Bush think about all of this?
Photo via Tom Newby/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
