FanDuel Sued by Redskins WR Garcon

Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon is suing FanDuel for misuse of his name and likeness. He is seeking class action status on behalf of NFL players similarly situated.

From the complaint:

  • Professional athletes’ names and likenesses are valuable intangible property. 
  • Indeed, Plaintiff’s and Class members’ continued popularity and successful performance on the field are critical to their own commercial success and the commercial success of the NFL.
  • Plaintiff, and upon information the other NFL players, have not consented,in writing or otherwise, to Defendant FanDuel’s use of their names or likenesses to promote or to operate its daily fantasy sports product.

OK. I get it. Yes, NFL players should be compensated for the use of their names and likenesses. And FanDuel should pony up.

Like DraftKings does.

That’s right — the NFL Players Association has a contract with DraftKings and receives compensation for the use of player’s names and likenesses. I don’t have the details of what that compensation schedule looks like, but that’s not my point here.

My point here is that this contract indicates to me that the NFL Players Association endorses fantasy sports in general. If the NFL Players Association objected to fantasy sports, they’d not have entered into this contract. And Garcon’s lawsuit would look very different and have very different claims — if it were to have been filed at all.

If you’d like to check out fantasy sport for yourself, you can go to FanDuel, DraftKings, and DraftDay. All have various promotions for new players.

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