Major League Baseball's Lawsuit Against FanDuel Settled

By Blake Brittain

Major League Baseball's players union has reached a settlement regarding a lawsuit that claimed FanDuel used the names and likenesses of hundreds of MLB players on its betting platform without permission.

A FanDuel spokesperson announced on Friday that the company and the union have signed a confidential licensing agreement. According to a filing in a New York federal court, the players agreed to dismiss their claims with prejudice, indicating that they cannot be refiled.

Spokespeople and attorneys for the union did not respond immediately to requests for comments or further information.

The players union has filed similar complaints against FanDuel's competitor DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) and other sports betting companies, with those cases still pending.

The lawsuits, initiated in September, accused these companies of "flagrantly" violating the rights of nearly every active MLB player by utilizing their names, images, and likenesses on their platforms without a proper license.

The players emphasized, "For professional athletes, the ability to control the commercial use of their names, images, and likenesses is a crucial return on their substantial career investment."

FanDuel has not responded to the allegations in court.

In a related matter, the National Football League's players union is pursuing its own lawsuit against DraftKings, initiated in August, over the alleged misuse of NFL player likenesses on non-fungible tokens (NFTs).