New Jersey Attorneys Set to Grill the NFL Head Roger Goodell, NBA Commish David Stern
John Brennan of NorthJersey.com revealed Wednesday afternoon that New Jersey attorneys will begin to depose leaders of four professional sports leagues and the NCAA.
Those to be deposed include the likes of the NCAA’s Mark Emmert plus the NFL’s Roger Goodell, the NBA’s David Stern, MLB’s Bud Selig, and the NHL’s Gary Bettman.
Odds are good that the first question will relate to why the addition of sports betting in the Garden State will cause “irreparable harm” to the leagues when Nevada is already makes the activity readily available.
From John Brennan:
The wide-ranging deal, submitted to the court by the leagues, includes having the leagues produce:
- “documents regarding the impact or potential impact of sports gambling, fantasy sports, and/or “March Madness” pools on consumer perceptions or loyalties, competition integrity, ticket sales, attendance, revenues, or viewership ratings” for the past 10 years.”
- “time-limited and targeted searches and produce non-privileged e-mails reflecting comments and positions taken by persons most likely to have responsive information with respect to those studies, analyses, surveys, or reports.”
- “current versions of their Constitutions, Bylaws, and policies with respect to sports gambling, fantasy sports, and/or “March Madness” pools.”
Additional items include documents sufficient to describe fantasy sports games or activities involving gambling on professional or amateur sports, if any, that are operated by or on behalf of Plaintiffs, any “official” public statements within the last five (5) years, if any, supporting or opposing gambling on professional and amateur sport, and more.
The deadlines are as follows:
deadlines:
- documents to be produced by Oct. 29
- depositions of commissioners to be completed by Nov. 19
- state to submit their expert reports and opposition to the leagues’ motion for summary judgment by Nov. 21
- depositions of league experts to be completed by Nov. 30
- leagues to submit rebuttal expert reports and reply to summary judgment objections by Dec. 5
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
