The History of Fantasy Sports Dispute Resolution; SportsJudge.com

As the 2010 fantasy football season approaches, I thought it would be fun to compose a timeline of articles about SportsJudge.com and the fantasy football dispute resolution industry.

SportsJudge's Media Timeline

January 19, 2007: Sam Borden of the Jacksonville Times-Union publishes perhaps the first newspaper article on SportsJudge.com, noting " [t]he surest sign of an intriguing idea is one that seems preposterous yet logical. "

September 10, 2007: Liz Farmer of The Baltimore Daily Record touts SportsJudge.com for the 2007 fantasy football season, but also expresses uncertainty about whether SportsJudge would get repeat customers.

September 4, 2008: Brian Baxter of American Law Daily highlights SportsJudge founder Marc Edelman's transition from big-firm associate to professor and entreprenuer.

February 19, 2009: Ron Kaplan of the New Jersey Jewish News gives SportsJudge.com an unequivocal compliment--touting SportsJudge as "the Solomon of Fantasy Sports."

May 21, 2009: More positive press, as The Wall Street Journal's Nano Di Fino suggests that fantasy sports commissioners should "mosey over to a fantasy dispute resolution site like SportsJudge and let a detached stranger make that call."

August 31, 2009: Time Magazine runs a feature on fantasy football and mentions SportsJudge.com and its services.

September 10, 2009: A CNN feature called "Lawyers, Insurance Firms Cash in on Fantasy Football" mentions SportsJudge.com as "offer[ing] to mitigate fretful, fantasy freuds."

August 1, 2010: Eriq Gardner highlights the role of SportsJudge.com with the growing fantasy sports industry in his ABA Journal article "The Umpire." Gardner estimates the number of fantasy sports contestants in North America at 30 million.

August 25, 2010: SportsJudge.com is featured as a thriving idea/business during a three-minute segment on CNBC's Squawkbox (video link available here).

CNBC to Air Feature on Fantasy Sports Dispute Resolution; SportsJudge.com

Tomorrow (Wed. 8/25), CNBC's Darren Rovell will interview me about SportsJudge.com and the growing market for fantasy sports dispute resolution services.

The interview will appear first on Squawk Box at 7:50 A.M. EDT and then again on CNBC's afternoon programming at 1:40 P.M. EDT.

SportsJudge.com to Provide Free Dispute Resolution Services to Fantasy College Football Invitational

On January 1, 2010, SportsJudge.com announced that it would begin providing free fantasy dispute resolution services to any fantasy sports league that donated 15% or more of its league entry fee to a SportsJudge.com approved charity.

In this spirit, SportsJudge has agreed to serve as the pro bono arbitrator to the Fantasy College Football Invitational--a fantasy college football league comprised of twenty industry writers, editors and analysts.

A link to the league's inaugural draft results is available here:

New York is the Capitol of Fantasy Sports Dispute Resolution

Since the American Bar Association published its article last month on fantasy sports dispute resolution, I have received a number of press inquiries asking where SportsJudge.com customers live.

Here are some answers, based on our past 500 web hits. From these results, it seems New York, NY is the nation's capitol of fantasy sports dispute resolution.

Top 10 Most Popular States for SportsJudge.com Fantasy Sports Dispute Resolution

1. New York (13.8 %)
2. California (9.4%)
3. Florida (6.8%)
4. Pennsylvania (6.4%)
5. Illinois (5.8%)
6. Massachusetts (4.8%)
7. New Jersey (4.4%)
8. Minnesota (3.8%)
9. Texas (3.4%)
10. Connecticut (2.8%)

Top 10 Most Popular Cities for SportsJudge.com Fantasy Sports Dispute Resolution

1. New York, NY (9.2%)
2. Chicago, IL (3.6%)
3. Houston, TX (2.8%)
4. West Palm Beach, FL (2.8%)
5. Southfield, MI (1.8%)
6. Richmond, VA (1.8%)
7. Minneapolis, MN (1.8%)
8. Washington, DC (1.6%)
9. Philadelphia, PA (1.6%)
10. Brooklyn, NY (1.6%)

American Bar Journal Writes about Fantasy Sports Disputes, SportsJudge.com

Eriq Gardner had a great article in August's American Bar Association Journal about SportsJudge.com and the history of fantasy dispute resolution. The article begins:

For the love of the game or the pursuit of some prize money, about 30 million people actively play in fantasy sports leagues across the United States and Canada. Competitors build rosters of professional sports athletes and set lineups in pursuit of statistical achievement. Nothing rankles fantasy enthusiasts more than perceived unfairness, such as a lopsided player trade between two competitors that tips a league’s balance.

That’s where Marc Edelman comes in.

For a link to the full article, please see here.

Fantasy Dispute Resolution Discussed in Florida Sun Sentinel

Sarah Talalay of the Florida Sun Sentinel wrote an article last week about SportsJudge.com and the market for fantasy sports dispute resolution. To quote a section of the article:

Perhaps it was inevitable that a hobby that has grown so large it has spawned fantasy magazines, television shows, stats services and trophy manufacturers would need arbitration services, too. After all, fantasy leagues typically are run by a commissioner who is also a team owner.

"The game is being overseen by someone who has a vested interest, even when you're not dealing with disputes that involve the commissioner's team," SportsJudge.com founder and Barry University law professor Marc Edelman said.

Edelman began getting requests for fantasy legal help as a law student in 2001. In 2007, he launched SportsJudge.com, which charges $15 a dispute, or $100 for 10, and returns opinions that cite past SportsJudge decisions within 48 hours.

No one is getting rich from the services. So far, all say they do it as a hobby because they enjoy it — but they are seeing growth.

Pace Law School Lecture on SportsJudge

On Tuesday February 2 at 4:00 P.M., I will be delivering a keynote address to Pace Law School's Alternative Dispute Resolution Society about SportsJudge.com and the emergence of alternative dispute resolution in online gaming.

For those interested in attending this event, please contact Danielle Reddan at dreddan at law dot pace dot edu.

SportsJudge.com to Provide Free Fantasy Dispute Resolution to Any League Donating 15% of League Entry Fee to Charity

It is with great pleasure to announce that, effective immediately, SportsJudge.com will provide free fantasy dispute resolution to any league that donates at least 15% of its league entry fee to a SportsJudge.com approved charity.

As a staff, we have selected Harlem RBI as our first approved charity. Harlem RBI provides inner-city youths from East Harlem, NY with the opportunity to enjoy a traditional Little League experience.

If you have other charities that you wish for us to consider, please send the name of the charity and a link to their website to info@sportsjudge.com.

SportsJudge.com plans to roll out a full list of approved charities in time for the 2010 baseball season.

Happy New Year!
The SportsJudge.com Fantasy Dispute Resolution Team

CNN Discusses Fantasy Dispute Resolution; SportsJudge

SportsJudge.com has come a long way since Professor Marc Edelman first opened shop as an email-based business in 2001. Indeed, just this morning, SportsJudge was featured in a story by CNN.com about the changing nature of the fantasy sports business.

For those interested in reading the full story about how companies such as SportsJudge are changing the fantasy sports business market, please see here.

For those of you that play fantasy football, we fully encourage you to then sign up for our Full Season package, available here.

Have a lineup question? Don't know who to start or pick up this week? Looking for up-to-the minute injury updates from around the league? We've got you covered. Our fantasy football team will be live-blogging this Sunday from 11am-1pm Eastern to answer all your Week 1 questions. Be sure to check it out!

SportsJudge Deputy Justice Joe Romano Appears on 105.9FM in Pittsburgh

Earlier this week, the morning show at 105.9FM "The X" in Pittsburgh contacted SportsJudge with the hopes of having a few words with us prior to the the quickly approaching football season. This morning Joe Romano, Chief Operating Office and Editor here at the SportsJudge Blog, chatted with Tim Benz and Bob McLaughlin and answered their questions regarding the service and the upcoming fantasy football season.

Here's a brief excerpt from the interview:

Tim Benz: I described this on the air, and you tell me if I did this accurately or not...I sort of said you are the "People's Court" for fantasy football leagues.

Joe Romano: That's exactly what we are. What you see, is a lot of leagues where teams are putting in entry fees, they're all friends, and something happens during the year and what you have is a lot of long-term relationships affected by this, especially the higher the buy-in goes. What we provide is someone to come in and give you an outside opinion that's not biased and we're trying to do the best thing for the league.

To hear the interview in it's entirety, click on the link below.

"105.9 The X: Joe Romano on why silly fantasy sports arguments should be taken seriously...by the SportsJudge!"

Fantasy Football Dispute? We Solve Them

When I first started resolving fantasy football disputes in 2001, I operated as a one-man shop. However, as more fantasy football leagues have turned to formal dispute resolution, our team has grown in size.

Thanks to the hard work of Marketing Director Mike Colligan, we now have available pictures and bios of the entire SportsJudge.com Team, including information about our three deputy justices (who assist me with fantasy trade disputes) and about our featured columnists (who write for SportsJudge Blog).

We also have posted our many of our Testimonials, which come from publications as varied as The Sporting News, ESPN the Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.

As we approach the 2009 fantasy football season, SportsJudge.com looks forward to continuing to meet all of your fantasy football arbitration needs. If you have any questions or concerns about our fantasy football dispute service, please feel free to reach out to me directly at info@sportsjudge.com

Very truly yours,

Marc Edelman, Esq.

Professor of Law & Founder, SportsJudge.com

Who Resolves Fantasy Sports Disputes?

When I first started resolving fantasy sports disputes in the Spring of 2001, I operated as a one-man shop. However, as more fantasy leagues have turned to formal dispute resolution, our team has grown in size.

Thanks to the hard work of Marketing Director Mike Colligan, we now have available pictures and bios of the entire SportsJudge.com Team, including information about our three deputy justices (who assist me with trade disputes) and about our featured columnists (who write for SportsJudge Blog).

We also have posted our many of our Testimonials, which come from publications as varied as The Sporting News, ESPN the Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.

As we approach the 2009 fantasy football season, SportsJudge.com looks forward to continuing to meet all of your fantasy needs. If you have any questions or concerns about our service, please feel free to reach out to me directly at info@sportsjudge.com

Very truly yours,

Marc Edelman, Esq.

Professor of Law & Founder, SportsJudge.com

Fantasy Baseball Dispute About Manny Ramirez? SportsJudge Has Answers

Yesterday afternoon in the Wall Street Journal Online, Nando Di Fino predicted that Manny Ramirez's 50-game drug-related suspension would lead to a wide range of fantasy baseball disputes. He also suggested that fantasy commissioners should "mosey over to a fantasy arbitration site like Sports Judge and let a detached stranger make that call on the veto for you."

And "mosey over" they did.

For the past several hours, the SportsJudge Court of Fantasy Baseball has been resolving two types of disputes involving Manny Ramirez -- (1) trade disputes; and (2) active roster disputes.

Trade Disputes Involving Manny:

The SportsJudge team has resolved a few disputes about trades involving Manny Ramirez. As we told the Wall Street Journal in an evening follow-up story, generally, trades made after the Ramirez steroids news broke Thursday were nullified. Those made before would stand. This is consistent with our previous view in the case Commissioner P.K. v. Cartman & The Atlanta Secessions, Index 409-T (June 2, 2007), which held that "a trade shall be analyzed as of the time it is consummated ... any events that emerge subsequently have no relevance."

Of course, one caveat to the general rule would be if a team that traded away Manny before the story broke had access to insider information. Another caveat would be if Manny was traded after the story broke, but at a substantial discount that factored in the knowledge of both parties.

Active Roster Disputes Involving Manny:

The SportsJudge.com team has also received a large number of disputes regarding whether teams may remove Manny Ramirez from their active roster during his suspension. Here, the SportsJudge.com Court of Fantasy Baseball had to review each league's constitution on a case-by-case basis. In leagues that do not have reserve squads or suspended lists, Manny Ramirez's fantasy owners would have to treat him just like any healthy player.

Don't like that outcome? Well, these fantasy owners should have considered the risk of this sort of suspension when drafting their league constitution. It is not as if Manny Ramirez is the first baseball player ever suspended--albeit, he is almost certainly the best player yet to take a 50-game hit.

Nov. 19: The Day Fantasy Sports Went Legal

Wednesday November 19 was a banner day for SportsJudge.com. In the span of just one hour (from 6:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M. EST), the Court of Fantasy Football received three new disputes. These disputes came from New York, Illinois, and Florida.

On behalf of the entire SportsJudge.com Team, I thank all of our litigants for not taking the law into their own hands ... and for spreading the word of our services.