One of these days . . .

one of these lawsuits will finally work and hopefully stadiums and owners, especially over-officious guys like this one, will just stop doing stupid things like this.

Three New Jersey high-school students have filed suit in federal court, alleging that they were berated by a team President/Owner and ejected from Newark's Riverfront Stadium for failing to stand during "God Bless America" at a Newark Bears game. According to the lawsuit, the owner went up to the three (one of whose father is a lawyer) and said "Nobody sits during the singing of 'God Bless America' in my stadium," . . . "Now the get the (expletive) out of here." When the students pointed out that they had a right not to stand, he responded that they were underage and he could do whatever he wanted to them. The GM and co-owner met with one kid's father and apologized and offered free tickets, but the owner at the center of the events was not at the meeting and has not apologized.

The story does not indicate the status of Riverfront Stadium, which obviously is key to the First Amendment claim. They also have claims under state public accommodations law; New Jersey actually has a pretty strong one.

My American Needle v. NFL Piece in the Yale Law Journal

I'm going to blog more fully on this next week, but I have just posted on SSRN a draft of my forthcoming piece in the Yale Law Journal titled, "American Needle v. NFL: An Opportunity to Reshape Sports Law."

I hope you have a chance to check it out. Have a great weekend.

NBA and Referees' Union Break Off Negotiations

The New York Times reported yesterday that negotiations between the NBA and its Referees' Union have broken off, with the league apparently preparing for a lockout to begin later this month. The NBA's collective bargaining agreement with the union expired on September 1st.

The Times report cites sources who state that the primary disagreement between the league and union relates to the amount by which the NBA is proposing to reduce its referee budget. NBA Commissioner David Stern acknowledged that the league is seeking to cut its referee budget in light of the global recession, but denied that it is attempting to cut referee salaries. ESPN.com had previously reported that the NBA was looking to reduce referee travel costs, pension payouts, and health benefits.

If the two sides are unable to agree on a new CBA, the NBA will likely use referees from the NBA Developmental League as replacements. The NBA previously used replacement referees during the first two months of the 1995-96 season.