Bloomberg reports that a federal court jury in San Francisco awarded $28 million in royalties to more than 2,000 retired NFL players who claimed the NFL Players Association had violated contracts when licensing these retired players' likenesses. Bloomberg published:
The National Football League Players Association must pay its retired members $28 million in royalties from licensing agreements with companies including video-game maker Electronic Arts Inc., a federal jury said.
The San Francisco jury yesterday said the union breached its fiduciary duty to the retired players and violated the terms of the players' group licensing agreements. Jurors awarded $7.1 million for the first issue and said no damages were owed for the second. The jury also said the union should pay $21 million in punitive damages.
The lawsuit filed in on behalf of as many as 2,062 former National Football League players claimed the union and its Players Inc. licensing unit failed to pay millions of dollars in royalties garnered under licenses with makers of video games, trading cards and other football products.
