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Speaker 1: Typically on this show on Tuesdays, we talk about sports

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Speaker 1: and the law, sports and legal matters with attorney Stuart W.

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Speaker 1: Penrose from the Manila Law Group. You just heard a

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Speaker 1: few seconds ago. I was not here yesterday, but I

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Speaker 1: wanted to have our conversation, so I asked Stuart, can

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Speaker 1: we carve out some time maybe on Wednesday instead of Tuesday?

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Speaker 1: And he was, as one might expect, extraordinarily accommodating.

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Speaker 2: And so here we are. Stuart, how are we doing?

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Speaker 3: I'm doing good, moll. How about you?

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Speaker 2: I'm doing well.

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Speaker 1: I have a feeling you and I are going to

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Speaker 1: spend a lot of time talking about Major League Baseball

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Speaker 1: and their labor situation, which we've discussed already. The entire

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty six season is going to occur against the

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Speaker 1: backdrop of a workstoppage, a lockout in all likelihood that

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Speaker 1: will happen once the current collective bargaining agreement with the

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Speaker 1: players expires. This has been complicated because the Major League

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Speaker 1: Baseball Players Association has seen a shakeup in leadership because

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Speaker 1: of a scandal involving the guy that used to run

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Speaker 1: the MLBPA, and so now there's been a leader ship

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Speaker 1: change what could something like this mean for the the

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Speaker 1: upcoming negotiations.

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Speaker 3: Well, Mo, it's it's a kind of changing your quarterback

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Speaker 3: before the Super Bowl. You know, Tony Park's been the

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Speaker 3: leader of the mlbp A for for a long time.

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Speaker 3: They know that the owners know who they're dealing with,

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Speaker 3: for better or worse, kind of the devil, you know,

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Speaker 3: versus the devil you don't in a way, so you

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Speaker 3: know who who's representing each party as a big sty

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Speaker 3: in setting the tone, and you know how how you

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Speaker 3: go about how aggressive you are, how cooperative you are,

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Speaker 3: And right now it's it's a it's an unknown with

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Speaker 3: the players Association. Who's going to run it? And what

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Speaker 3: kind of way is that new person going to run it?

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Speaker 2: You know, Yeah, you're You're right. It's it's a good

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Speaker 2: way of putting it.

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Speaker 1: I guess I would wonder if if the union's overall

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Speaker 1: position as it relates to the biggest issue in the sport,

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Speaker 1: which is so far the lack of a salarycap, like

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Speaker 1: that's that's been such a hard line stance that I

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Speaker 1: would wonder, as silly as this may sound, does it

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Speaker 1: really matter who the head negotiator is if their stance

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Speaker 1: has been unchanged for decades and is likely to unchange

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Speaker 1: no matter what.

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Speaker 3: Well, I mean, they're only going to appoint somebody who

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Speaker 3: they who they want, who they choose, So I'm certain

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Speaker 3: they're gonna point someone that's going to represent the interest

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Speaker 3: that they want. So no, I don't think it's going

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Speaker 3: to change in that regard, but certainly the type of

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Speaker 3: leadership that person has and how dynamic they are, it

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Speaker 3: can change. The tone, can change how things are done

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Speaker 3: and uh and in many ways what is done and

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Speaker 3: how long it takes. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna be talking about this a ton as

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Speaker 1: the season unfolds, because it feels like a lockout is

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Speaker 1: almost unavoidable. Uh, can you tell me about this story

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Speaker 1: involving happen. Yeah, Well, here's here's a question though, right, Like, Uh,

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Speaker 1: you know they're they're gonna talk once the lockout starts,

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Speaker 1: for sure. I guess I would wonder, like, why why

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Speaker 1: can't the negotiations happen during the season. It feels like

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Speaker 1: every time we have one of these, they really don't

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Speaker 1: get the ball rolling on actual discussions about a new

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Speaker 1: labor agreement until the current one expires.

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Speaker 3: Sure, deadlines bring a lot of bring a lot of

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Speaker 3: people to bring people to the table and create pressure

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Speaker 3: to him or something done. And sometimes people don't feel

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Speaker 3: the need to back off of their positions until they

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Speaker 3: see until they see the new clear option about to unfold.

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Speaker 3: I think it's very natural in any type of negotiation.

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Speaker 1: I have a new rooting interest. I have a new

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Speaker 1: rooting interest. I want to switch gears. I have a

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Speaker 1: new rooting interest. I root against Patrick Mahomes. I wrote

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Speaker 1: against the Kansas City Chiefs. I hate to root against

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Speaker 1: Travis Kelcey because he played for the Bearcats, but I'm

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Speaker 1: sort of like, I'm just it's how I'm wired now

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Speaker 1: to root against. So they're being sued. They're being sued

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Speaker 1: along with people that are in business with over the

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Speaker 1: name of a steakhouse they've opened in Kansas City fifteen

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Speaker 1: eighty seven because I guess there's a sneaker brand fifteen

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Speaker 1: eighty seven, And they're saying, look, we already had that

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Speaker 1: four digit number as our brand, so you can't use

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Speaker 1: it for your steakhouse.

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Speaker 2: How do we expect this to unfold?

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, there's layers of insurance to all of this.

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Speaker 3: I mean, there are celebrity names that are put on

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Speaker 3: the top and you know it sounds sexy and you know,

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Speaker 3: headline grabbing when you have Travis Kelce Patrick Mahomes being sued.

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Speaker 3: But you know, in all likelihood, you know they certainly

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Speaker 3: aren't involved in the daily operations in such a business.

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Speaker 3: You know, they rely on their partners and management teams

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Speaker 3: and there's several layers of insurance that are ultimately going

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Speaker 3: to cover this. So you know, they are names. They're

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Speaker 3: outage of the lawsuits certainly, and they have to because

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Speaker 3: they're owners, but they're unlikely the main players in this.

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Speaker 1: Quite frankly, this might be a stupid question. That's why

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Speaker 1: I have you on because you're an expert, isn't it

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Speaker 1: that isn't it easy for one to make the distinction

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Speaker 1: between a sneaker brand and a place where you can

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Speaker 1: buy a steak.

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Speaker 3: You would think you would think they're going to have

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Speaker 3: the other plane if they have to.

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Speaker 2: Prove their damages.

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Speaker 3: Certainly, a steakhouse a sneaker brand are two very different things. Uh.

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Speaker 3: But you saw with the with the Utah hockey team,

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Speaker 3: you know they wanted to go with the name YETI,

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Speaker 3: and you know YETI coolers wouldn't wouldn't let him have it,

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Speaker 3: and you know made a uh, you know, made a

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Speaker 3: big stick about their trademark. You know, probably a very

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Speaker 3: misbranding opportunity, quite frankly, but you know, you you've seen

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Speaker 3: things akin to that.

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Speaker 1: Certainly, our legal expert from the Manila Law Group, attorney

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Speaker 1: Stewart W. Penrose, is with us a day later than usual.

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Speaker 1: One more so, there's this racial discrimination suit being brought

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Speaker 1: on by some some African American coaches against the National

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Speaker 1: Football League. And the coaches include Brian Flores, Steve Wilks,

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Speaker 1: and Ray Horton. Uh, it's a it's a discrimination lawsuit.

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Speaker 1: There was a ruling in federal court that this suit's

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Speaker 1: going to proceed in an open court rather than a

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Speaker 1: closed door arbitration. I guess for me, I wasn't I

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Speaker 1: wasn't aware and this is my naivete speaking here that

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Speaker 1: such a thing could be held in a closed door

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Speaker 1: arbitration setting. I just naturally assumed this was going to

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Speaker 1: be in an open court.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 1: How often do things like this get decided by arbiters?

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Speaker 2: Quite often.

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Speaker 3: A lot of contracts and a lot of bargaining agreements

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Speaker 3: have have arbitration clauses. Here, and it sounds like that's

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Speaker 3: what the NFL was trying to you know, to try

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Speaker 3: and to impose, hey, we've got an arbitration agreement and

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Speaker 3: the and the court decided otherwise or that, uh, that

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Speaker 3: that it wasn't holding water in this circumstance. But you know,

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Speaker 3: being able to try this in public court versus arbitration

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Speaker 3: is a huge win for the plaintiffs here. It gives

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Speaker 3: them a lot more advantages by making things public. You know,

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Speaker 3: arbitration MOO is a private setting. Uh, there's limited discovery

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Speaker 3: with it. You know, there's no jury, it's very hard

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Speaker 3: to appeal. You know, it really would really benefit the NFL, uh,

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Speaker 3: you know, in a circumstance like this, whereas if you

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Speaker 3: go to uh, you know, to public court. You know,

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Speaker 3: first off, like a journey trial is public. Discovery is broad.

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Speaker 3: You can you can get more evidence to take more

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Speaker 3: depth positions. There's a lot more pressure that they could

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Speaker 3: put on the on the defense. You know, what comes

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Speaker 3: out in discovery. You're gonna get owners' emails that come out.

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Speaker 3: You're gonna get different communications, things that they might not

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Speaker 3: want to see the light of day that can now

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Speaker 3: you know, come out because it's going to be in

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Speaker 3: public court versus going to be, you know, behind the

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Speaker 3: screen of an arbitration, so it's a big win for

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Speaker 3: the plaintiffs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it sounds like it, and you're right.

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Speaker 1: Communication among owners, I would imagine there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: folks working in the NFL or people who own teams

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Speaker 1: who don't want that stuff being brought to light. Awesome insight.

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Speaker 1: As always, we will talk next week, my friend.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Thank you, Moo