New Jersey to depose league leaders
News on 18 Oct 2012
News on 18 Oct 2012
The latest move by New Jersey legal representatives arguing the case for regulated intrastate sportsbetting in the Garden State against the national sports leagues is to depose the commissioners of the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball and the National Collegiate Athletic Association for up to four hours each.
The proposal, which has been broadly agreed by participants, has been filed but not yet accepted by the court. It would put the commissioners on the spot, requiring them to justify their oft-stated claims that sports betting would cause “irreparable harm” to the “integrity of the leagues.”
North Jersey.com reports that the depositions, which include the examination of historical documentation, communications and business reports, along with a study of league activity associated with fantasy sports games or activities “that are operated by or on behalf of” the leagues and may involve wagering, would be admissible in court.
The organisations of those to be deposed are required to table documentation by October 29, and the deposition process should be completed by November 19.
In the meantime the legal to-and-fro continues as the leagues seek a summary judgment against the state, and the state challenges such a development and presses ahead with its plan to implement a state regulatory and licensing regime before year-end, effectively undercutting the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.
On a side note, Senator Tom Coburn has released information on the profligacy of Congress and the general wastage of taxpayer dollars this week in which the National Football League is mentioned.
Coburn claims that the National Football League pulled in more than $9 billion last year, yet is technically a “non-profit” organisation, costing the federal government tens of millions of dollars every year in lost tax revenue.
The Senator’s allegations are unlikely to go down well in Washington DC; he estimates $132 million of taxpayers’ money was wasted this year on “the most unproductive and unpopular Congress in modern history,” and details some of the wasteful expenditure at:
