Sports

Weil won a major victory before the Supreme Court of Washington State, on behalf of Washington State University and co-plaintiff Oregon State University, in a high-profile dispute regarding the future of the Pac-12 athletic Conference. The court’s ruling ensures that our clients have sole control over the Pac-12 moving forward, following the announced departure of 10 members from the Conference, even as the departing members sought to continue serving on the Conference’s board and influencing its governance and finances.

Following appellate briefing led by Weil, the court denied our adversaries’ motions for discretionary review of a lower court’s order that denied defendants’ motions to dismiss and granted our clients’ motion to preliminarily enjoin the 10 departing member universities from continuing to serve on the Conference’s board. This is the third consecutive victory Weil has secured for its clients in this dispute, following earlier rulings in which the trial court granted our request for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction.

Weil represents NBA All-Star Zion Williamson and his agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), in multi-jurisdictional litigation in North Carolina federal court and Florida state court against his former agent, Prime Sports Marketing (PSM). The disputes collectively implicate more than $100M.

In North Carolina, Zion commenced a lawsuit seeking to declare the contract illegal and void, and PSM responded with counterclaims for breach of contract, fraud, unjust enrichment, and misappropriation of trade secrets. Weil helped obtain a complete trial court victory, with the court first holding that the contract was illegal and then subsequently dismissing all of PSM’s counterclaims. PSM appealed, and the Fourth Circuit affirmed. In the first appellate precedent interpreting the Uniform Athlete Agents Act, the Fourth Circuit held that the contract was illegal and void and that the underlying claims lacked merit. 

Meanwhile, in Florida, Weil helped secure an appellate victory for Williamson that lead to the dismissal of all claims brought against him by PSM in Florida. Weil also helped obtain a February 2023 summary judgment victory for CAA that dismissed all claims against them as well.

Weil represented CBS Sports in a wide range of high-profile sports media-related litigations, including, among others: multi-district antitrust class action litigation relating to the use of CBS Sports’ NFL broadcasts in the “Sunday Ticket” subscription package; the “grant-in-aid” litigation resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Alston decision, as well as the ongoing In re College Athlete NIL Litigation, challenging the NCAA’s rules prohibiting student-athletes from receiving compensation in exchange for the use of their names, images, and likenesses; a dispute with the Alliance of American Football (AAF) following AAF’s chapter 7 bankruptcy filing; and a pair of major class actions filed by putative classes of current and former college athletes involving right of publicity issues.

Weil is counseling DIRECTV in connection with litigation and restructuring options surrounding its contractual relationship with Diamond Sports Group, a regional sports network affiliate of Sinclair Broadcasting Group that has encountered financial difficulty. Diamond operates 19 individual regional sports networks that serve as the TV home to more than half of all MLB, NHL, and NBA teams based in the United States.