The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) and DraftKings have agreed in principle to settle their lawsuit in U.S. District Court relating to the use of player likenesses.
The NFLPA sued the operator last year, claiming that DraftKings violated the terms of a player image licensing agreement signed in 2021 for products in DraftKings’ now-shuttered NFT Marketplace.
The NFLPA alleged in the New York Southern District Court lawsuit that DraftKings threatened to stop offering the NFTs in 2023. The union subsequently agreed to restructure their contract, but DraftKings allegedly claimed the amended agreement could be terminated if a court determined NFTs to be securities.
A federal judge in Boston said the tokens may be unregistered securities in a separate class-action lawsuit against DraftKings last year. Within weeks, DraftKings ended the agreement. The NFLPA then asserted that the operator owed them more than $60 million for terminating the contract.
In late November, DraftKings filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that it did not intentionally harm the NFLPA, which would have been a necessary factor for the company to be in violation of the agreement.
On Monday, the two parties stated in a joint filing that they have settled the case in principle and have requested a 60-day pause from the court to allow them to finalize their agreement.
SBC Americas reached out to both parties for comment but had not heard back at the time of writing.
MLB players union also sued DraftKings
Among the various other lawsuits filed against DraftKings in recent months, the operator was one of a quartet of operators also sued by MLB player reps over image rights.
MLB Players Inc. (MLBPI), a subsidiary of the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) trade union, alleged that DraftKings and co-defendant bet365 have illegally been using likenesses of MLB players both within their betting apps and via social media posts.
Like the NFLPA case, DraftKings filed a motion to dismiss. In the MLB instance, the operator argued that its use of player images fall within the First Amendment.
MLBPI hit back at that notion in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case last month by arguing that past examples cited by DraftKings and bet365 are irrelevant to the nuances of Pennsylvania’s fair use statute and stressing that the sportsbooks should not be treated as news organizations.
