OPINION AND ORDER Asport that celebrates “stealing,” even if only of a base, may not provide the perfect encouragement to scrupulous play. Nor can it be denied that an overweening desire to win may sometimes lead our heroes to employ forbidden substances on their (spit) balls, their (corked) bats, or even their (steroid-consuming) selves. But as Frank Sinatra famously said to Grace Kelly (in the 1956 movie musical High Society), “there are rules about such things.”1 One of these rules forbids the use of electronic devices in aid of the players’ inevitable efforts to steal the opposing catcher’s signs. In 2017 and thereafter, the Houston Astros, and somewhat less blatantly the Boston Red Sox, shamelessly broke that rule, and thereby broke the hearts of all true baseball fans. But did the initial efforts of those teams, and supposedly of Major League Baseball itself, to conceal these foul deeds from the simple sports bettors who wagered on fantasy baseball create a cognizable legal claim? On the allegations here made, the answer is no. I. Background This is a putative class action brought by fantasy sports players against defendants Major League Baseball and MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (collectively “MLB”), the Boston Red Sox Baseball Club, L.P. (the “Red Sox”), and the Houston Astros, LLC (the “Astros”). The named plaintiffs are five individuals who, between 2017 and 2019, participated in daily fantasy baseball contests hosted by DraftKings Inc. (“DraftKings”). Plaintiffs assert various fraud, negligence, unjust enrichment, and consumer protection law claims based on alleged harm caused by the defendants’ representations and conduct surrounding the by-now-infamous sign-stealing scandal. Specifically, the amended complaint alleges that plaintiffs Kristopher R. Olson, Christopher Lopez, Warren Barber, Christopher Clifford, and Erik Liptak, residents of Massachusetts, California, Texas, Florida, and Colorado, respectively, were participants in DraftKings daily fantasy baseball contests from April 2, 2017 to October 30, 2019. Amended Compl., ECF No. 20 (“AC”)
121-141. Defendant MLB is an unincorporated association consisting of thirty Major League Baseball clubs, including the Astros and the Red Sox. Id. 22. MLB administers and operates the league through the Office of the Commissioner. Id. Defendant MLBAM is a limited liability partnership owned by the thirty major league clubs that has responsibility for internet and interactive marketing for MLB. Id. 23. Plaintiffs’ allegations against the defendants arise from plaintiffs’ contracts with DraftKings. DraftKings is an online platform that operates fantasy sports contests on a daily and weekly basis across multiple sports. Id. 30. DraftKings’s daily fantasy sports baseball (“MLB DFS”) competitions require contestants to select a lineup of MLB players, each assigned a different “salary” value set by DraftKings. Id. 31. The salary is based on the reported past performance statistics of the MLB player. Id. DraftKings participants accrue fantasy points based on the real-life performance of the players they have “drafted” on the particular day or week covered by the contest, and the participants’ total points at the end of the contest determines who wins a cash prize. Id. 32. Participants pay DraftKings a fee for each fantasy contest, a portion of which is kept by DraftKings and the remainder of which funds the contests’ prizes. Id. 33. The complaint alleges that in 2013 and 2015, MLBAM acquired equity stakes in DraftKings “sizeable enough to reap meaningful benefit from the rise of daily fantasy.” Id.
