The NFL recently shut down the fantasy football convention that Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had planned to host in Las Vegas. And now the organizers of the event are fighting back.
According to Darren Rovell of ESPN.com, Fan Expo LLC sued the NFL in Dallas on Monday, alleging that the NFL illegally interfered with the event by forcing its cancellation.
On one hand, it’s no secret that NFL players are prohibited from hosting events at casinos. On the other hand, the NFL allegedly engaged in some heavy-handed tactics that could get a judge or a jury to find a way around the policy, especially since Romo’s event wasn’t slated to be held within a casino itself.
For example, the lawsuit alleges that an NFL executive called the mother of Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to say her son would be fined or suspended if he showed up at the event. The lawsuit also alleges that the NFL threatened Michael Fabiano of NFL Network with termination of his employment if he followed through with his plan to participate in the event.
The league had no comment to Rovell on the lawsuit. Eventually, the league will have to comment in court, possibly starting with an effort to dismiss the case based on the notion that Romo was barred by rule from hosting it. If that effort fails and the discovery process begins, there could be plenty of interesting nuggets of testimony that come from plenty of depositions in advance of what would be a potentially compelling trial in open court.