The four major American sports leagues and the NCAA have filed a response to a lawsuit by Monmouth Park Racetrack, saying that the claims of the New Jersey track are frivolous.
The New Jersey Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association is claiming that the leagues acted in bad faith when they received a restraining order in 2014 that blocked the racetrack from offering sports betting.
Leagues Say Injunction Was Proper Under PASPA
According to the initial filing, the association believes that Monmouth Park lost nearly $150 million in revenue during the time that New Jersey fought legal battles in an effort to regulate sports betting. Those efforts finally came to an end in May, when the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA).
But in a response filed in federal court on Monday, the leagues said that this lawsuit is frivolous. According to lawyers representing the leagues, they were only exercising their rights under PASPA when they sought the restraining order against the track.
Lawyers for the leagues say that while the association could try to collect on a $3.4 million bond that the leagues put up in case the track suffered losses while the temporary restraining order was in effect, the group should have absolutely no claim on other lost revenues while PASPA was still in place. Just because they eventually lost the case, that doesn’t mean that the temporary restraining order was wrongful, the lawyers argue.
“Congress enacted PASPA in 1992, and, for more than 25 years, the clear language of the statute expressly provided the Leagues with a cause of action to obtain injunctive relief to address violations of the statue,” lawyers for the leagues wrote in their response.
DFS Deals Show Bad Faith, Association Says
The association disagrees. They say that the leagues acted in bad faith due to the fact that they were making deals with daily fantasy sports companies like DraftKings and FanDuel while simultaneously stopping states from regulating sports betting.
Dennis Drazin, who operates Monmouth Park and serves as a consultant for the horseman’s association, says that the amount they’ve asked for is on the lower end of what his track may have lost over the course of four years, including the cost of the lawsuits.
“When you add up the numbers it comes to $150 million to $200 million, and it may be more,” Drazin told the Asbury Park Press in May. “I’m sure the leagues will have something to say about it. We know the leagues are wrong. It’s pretty clear we are entitled to damages.”
Drazin has also tied that amount to the fight over integrity fees. Many politicians in New Jersey were harsh in rebuffing the efforts of MLB and NBA officials to receive a small portion of every bet on their leagues as a way of paying for efforts to maintain the integrity of games, seeing it as little more than a money grab from the sporting bodies.
“After stopping New Jersey for years for reasons that we think are not legitimate, they are not entitled to an integrity fee,” Drazin told APP.