In the world of American sports, no organization is mightier than the National Football League and it knows it. The NFL also isn’t afraid to throw its legal weight around, as Tom Brady and plenty of others have found out the hard way.
One such organization to find out just what it is like to go up against the NFL is that of the National Fantasy Football Convention. For the second-straight year, the NFFC was put on hold thanks to alleged interference from the NFL with players scheduled to appear and vendors set to have events set up at the convention.
The NFFC announced their decision to cancel the event for now via Twitter:
https://twitter.com/GoNFFC/status/742861062207209472
After announcing a convention back in 2015 in Las Vegas, the NFL effectively ended the event by sending out nasty-grams to all the players scheduled to appear and reminding them that appearances at casino’s were banned by the league.
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, one of the owners of the convention, sued the league and won a restraining order in April.
Hoping to avoid the 800-pound gorilla that is the NFL legal team this time around, the convention was scheduled for July 15-17 in Pasadena, California and all 32 teams were to have players on hand. There were also supposed to be fantasy football experts on panels to dish out advice to attendees and other events scheduled as well.
Clearly, that won’t be happening, but the event is far from over according to owners of the NFFC as they plan to be back for a convention when all the litigation with the NFL has run its course.
According to ESPN.com‘s reporting, the NFFC’s owners — The Fan Expo, LLC — are involved with three different cases against the NFL.
In February, a Dallas judge threw out a tortious interference claim brought by The Fan Expo, LLC, that led to the cancellation in 2015. An appeal has been filed, and there are two other claims, including breach of contract. One of The Fan Expo’s attorney’s, Michael Hurst, said the hope is to depose NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
It’s truly amazing the lengths the league will go to somehow limit fan interaction with its players outside of the structured environments of team and league-organized activities.
The lesson apparently to be learned? The NFL is truly the No Fun League.
[ESPN]
