Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon is suing FanDuel one year after promoting the daily fantasy sports giant.
Garcon today filed a class-action lawsuit in Maryland against FanDuel on “behalf of all NFL players whose names and likenesses have been misappropriated” by the company.
“FanDuel knowingly and improperly exploits the popularity and performance of Garcon, along with all the other National Football League players at offensive skilled positions without their authority or a valid license,” noted attorneys representing Garcon.
Here’s a tweet with the news release from Fox Sports’ Mike Garafolo:
A class action lawsuit filed by attorneys for Redskins WR Pierre Garçon (on behalf of all NFL players) vs FanDuel. pic.twitter.com/mUVXLANGve
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 30, 2015
Interestingly, as Sports Illustrated notes, it seems that Garcon was paid by FanDuel last season to promote the company on Twitter:
I love these 1-week fantasy football leagues on FanDuel. Join my week 1 league to win up to $5K on opening weekend http://t.co/jfIgdKKUxU
— Pierre Garçon (@PierreGarcon) August 8, 2014
Game Week! Fanduel pays out 1 million dollars in prizes per DAY! Come play in my 1-day league! http://t.co/EqUNkAuIUD
— Pierre Garçon (@PierreGarcon) September 2, 2014
Try my 1-week fantasy football league on FanDuel! $10 to join, $5K to
winner! Good Luck: http://t.co/Y2KyqebYYv— Pierre Garçon (@PierreGarcon) October 8, 2014
DraftKings, meanwhile, does have a license with the NFL’s Players Association — it inked an advertising deal with the NFLPA earlier this year — hence why Garcon is only suing FanDuel.
Murphy on FanDuel: "The entire business model is to exploit these players and do it without a license." (DraftKings has deal with NFLPA.)
— Adam Kilgore (@AdamKilgoreWP) October 30, 2015
Garcon’s suit is similar to the case filed against the NCAA by former Arizona State University quarterback Sam Keller for allowing EA Sports to use players’ likeness in college football and basketball video games without compensation. The NCAA last year reached a settlement that awarded current and former student-athletes $20 million.
However, as Forbes writer Darren Heinter notes, it may be tough for Garcon to win this case given how the court has ruled about player likeness in fantasy sports:
Here's why Pierre Garçon may want to rethink part of his argument against FanDuel https://t.co/WMUKC1TvYP pic.twitter.com/4Xlcca63rd
— Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) October 30, 2015
While fantasy sports have been around for a while, these new daily games are becoming more popular as of late. Rather than a typical season-long fantasy league that forces users to keep the same roster for months, FanDuel and DraftKings let people compile different lineups each week and pick from an array of money pools that have some serious payouts to top finishers.
Both sites hand out millions of dollars to participants. For example, a DraftKings pool this NFL season featured an entry fee of $20 for each lineup, with a top prize of $2 million.
Both companies, which have partnerships with sports leagues, teams, and media giants, also have dealt with a fair share of scrutiny and controversy over the past few months while each has spent huge amounts of money on advertising before and during the 2015 NFL season.
Earlier this month, the Nevada Gaming Control Board ruled that daily fantasy sports sites are considered gambling and ordered the companies to stop operating until they receive state gambling licenses. The Wall Street Journal also reported that federal investigators were investigating how DraftKings and FanDuel conduct business and determining whether they should fall into the “gambling” category.
Those decisions came after a scandal in early October that was described as alleged “insider trading,” with a DraftKings employee releasing internal data and then winning $350,000 in a FanDuel contest during the same week.
The Washington Post noted last month that a ranking member of the Energy and Commerce requested a hearing to discuss “how participation in fantasy sports differs from gambling, as well as the relationship between professional leagues, teams, and players and the fantasy leagues.”
DraftKings, founded in 2011, brought in $30 million in revenue last year, the Wall Street Journal reported. FanDuel, founded in 2009 — it spun out of news startup HubDub in 2010 — made $57 million last year. The companies make money by taking a small commission from each entry fee; FanDuel said that it takes about 10 percent from each fee.
In July, FanDuel raised a $275 million round from investors like KKR, Google Capital, and Time Warner that valued it at more than $1 billion. A few weeks later, DraftKings raised a $300 million round led by Fox Sports, which valued the startup at more than $1.2 billion.
We’ve reached out to FanDuel for comment and will update when we hear back.