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Panini America, the company that currently has league and players union licenses to produce NBA and NFL trading cards, has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fanatics, alleging it has “created an entirely new monopoly spanning multiple leagues and multiple players associations” in the industry.

Panini alleges that Fanatics engaged in “calculated, intentional, anticompetitive conduct” by securing long-term, exclusive licensing deals with leagues and players associations, according to the lawsuit. Panini also claims Fanatics signed rookie NFL and NBA players to exclusive deals, disseminated “false, derogatory statements” about Panini and poached its employees in an effort to create “insurmountable barriers to entry” in the trading card business.

“Panini’s lawsuit is a baseless last-gasp, flailing effort by a company that has lost touch with its consumers, is failing in the marketplace and has tried unsuccessfully for years to sell itself,” Fanatics said as part of a statement to ESPN. “Panini is trying to blame Fanatics for its own inability to keep pace with what players, fans, and even its own employees want.

Fanatics is preparing to countersue.

To make fully licensed trading cards — featuring the name, image and likenesses of players, as well as team and league logos — a manufacturer needs to procure licenses with both the players union and the league itself.

Panini America has been the exclusive licensee of the NBA since the 2009-10 season, and of the NFL since 2016. Panini’s union deals with the NBA and NFL expire in 2025 and ’26, respectively.

Fanatics has a 20-year deal in place with the NFL Players Association starting in 2026. That year, it also will become the exclusive licensee of NBA cards, via deals in place with its league and union. Fanatics also signed deals with MLB and its players association in August 2021 to become the exclusive licensee of its cards at the end of 2022, then acquired Topps in January of that year.

“Panini was not given an opportunity to bid or otherwise compete for the licenses Fanatics acquired,” the company said in the lawsuit. “Panini only learned about Fanatics’ exclusive agreements after they were consummated, through reading about them in the media.

“By combining long-term exclusive licenses for every major U.S. Professional Sports League and their respective player associations, Fanatics positioned itself to drive Panini and other potential competitors out of the market, and erected barriers to entry blocking their return.”

Panini also alleges that Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin — the former part-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils — “approached Panini in May 2023 to threaten that Fanatics would no longer supply Panini with any jerseys for Panini to offer to consumers as elements of its trading cards” and “would not stop its pressure campaign against Panini and continue to sign exclusive deals with players.”

A Fanatics source disputed that characterization to ESPN, saying it’s been engaged in conversations with Panini over the last year to transfer the rights it had won earlier than the expiration of the NBA and NFL deals.

Also in the lawsuit, Panini alleged that Fanatics has been “raiding” its employees and “induced some employees to come to Fanatics by threatening them with not working in the industry ever again once Panini’s licenses expired unless those employees committed immediately to join Fanatics.” Panini also claimed Fanatics told players, agents, players associations and employees that Panini would be “incapable of performing for them, will be out of business soon and lacks the money to pay them.”

“Fanatics’ media releases try to ignore its industry-wide, decades-long exclusive dealing arrangements that lock-out competitors for a generation of collectors,” David Boies, lead counsel of Boies Schiller Flexner, the law firm representing Panini, said in a statement to ESPN. “It won’t be so easy for Fanatics to avoid the merits of the case against it before a judge and jury.”

A Fanatics source said the company believes it won its deals “fair and square, one at a time” while focusing with leagues and players associations on the need to evolve to a more direct-to-consumer model.

“Our perspective is all the claims are baseless; we do what’s in the best interest of the collector, the hobby, the industry long term,” the source said.

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Ex-‘Last Chance U’ coach shot on Oakland campus

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Ex-'Last Chance U' coach shot on Oakland campus

A senior member of the athletics staff at a community college in Oakland, California, was shot on campus Thursday, the second time in two days the city has had a shooting at a local school.

The Oakland Police Department said it was investigating the shooting that occurred just before noon at Laney College, where officers arrived to find a man with gunshot wounds. The victim was taken to a hospital and his condition was unknown.

The man later was identified as John Beam, the current athletic director and former head coach of the Laney football team. Beam and the Laney Eagles were featured in the 2020 season of the Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U.” The docuseries focused on athletes at junior colleges looking to turn around their lives.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said she was “heartbroken” by “the second shooting on an Oakland campus in one week.”

“My thoughts are with Coach John Beam and his loved ones. We are praying for him,” Lee said in a prepared statement. “Coach Beam is a giant in Oakland — a mentor, an educator, and a lifeline for thousands of young people. For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family.”

Lee added: “We are standing together, praying for Coach Beam and his loved ones.”

Thursday’s incident came a day after a student was shot at Oakland’s Skyline High School. The student was in stable condition. Police said they arrested two juveniles and recovered two firearms.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Colorado AD will step down, take advisory role

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Colorado AD will step down, take advisory role

Colorado athletics director Rick George will step down from his role at the end of the academic year and become a special advisor to the chancellor, the school announced Thursday.

George has been the AD in Boulder since 2013, returning to the school where he once served on legendary football coach Bill McCartney’s staff as the recruiting coordinator and assistant athletic director for football operations. This coincided with Colorado’s only national title in 1990.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as Athletic Director for the University of Colorado for the last 13 years, but after considerable thought and discussions with my family dating back to last spring, I have decided it is time for new leadership to guide the department,” said George. “I wanted to make this announcement now in order to give Chancellor Schwartz plenty of time to find the right person for Colorado, and I look forward to doing everything I can to ensure a smooth transition.

“I also wanted to time my announcement so that I could support Coach Prime and our football team this season, which I’m looking forward to continuing in my new role.”

During his tenure as athletics director, George oversaw the development of a new athletics building attached to Folsom Field and was named the Athletic Director of the year in 2023-24 by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

His time as AD will perhaps be most remembered by his hiring of Deion Sanders as football coach, which generated significant national interest in Colorado football. He also returned Colorado to the Big 12, which represented a significant domino in the collapse of the Pac-12 following UCLA and USC’s departures for the Big Ten.

George also spent time as a member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee and served on the Division I Council.

“Rick’s contributions to our university in his 13 years as head of our athletic department have been incalculable,” Chancellor Justin Schwartz said. “He is a nationally respected leader who has always kept CU at the forefront of the dynamic and highly competitive landscape of college athletics. I am grateful for his leadership and am elated he has decided to stay on as a Special Advisor and AD Emeritus.”

Prior to becoming AD, George was the Chief Operating Officer for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball.

The school did not announce a timeline for hiring a replacement.

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Yurachek replaces Rhoades as new CFP chair

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Yurachek replaces Rhoades as new CFP chair

The College Football Playoff management committee has formally approved the return of Utah athletic director Mark Harlan to its selection committee and named current committee member and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek its new chair, the CFP announced on Thursday.

The moves come hours after Baylor athletic director and selection committee chair Mack Rhoades took a leave of absence from his job for personal reasons amid a university investigation.

“We are deeply appreciative of Mack Rhoades’ leadership and service as chair of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee this season,” CFP executive director Rich Clark said in a news release. “Mack has informed us of his decision to step down for personal reasons, and our thoughts are with him and his family during this time. We are pleased to announce that Hunter Yurachek will assume the role of Selection Committee Chair, effective immediately. Hunter’s experience, integrity, and commitment to the game make him exceptionally well-suited to lead the committee as it continues its important work throughout the remainder of the season.”

Harlan previously served a one-year term during the 2023 season. The CFP typically requires athletic directors on the selection committee to be active, “sitting” athletic directors. Because Rhoades was the Big 12’s nomination, he was replaced by a Big 12 athletic director. The 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua unanimously agreed to the changes.

Harlan is not the only committee member in his second stint with the group, as former Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long – also the CFP’s inaugural chairman – is participating again this season. The 12-person group was already one member short this season after committee member Randall McDaniel also stepped away last month for personal reasons.

Rhoades told ESPN on Thursday that he initiated the leave from his Baylor role but declined to explain why.

Baylor told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg that the university received allegations involving Rhoades on Monday. The allegations do not involve Title IX, student welfare or NCAA rules and do not involve the football program, indicating it is a separate incident from Rhoades’ alleged altercation with a football player during a September game.

Jovan Overshown and Cody Hall will serve as Baylor’s co-interim athletic directors, a school spokesman told Rittenberg. Overshown is the school’s deputy athletic director and chief operating officer, and Hall is Baylor’s executive senior associate athletic director for internal administration and chief financial officer.

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