The Court Cases That Defined Sports Law In 2025

Irwin Kishner, co-chair of Herrick's Sports Law Group and co-chair of Herrick's Corporate Department, was quoted in Law360 in an article discussing the most significant matters in sports law in 2025. 

The article highlighted a number of cases including an antitrust lawsuit involving two "pro sports behemoths" who sued NASCAR in an action alleging that the organization was "strong-arming teams into signing restrictive charters that would ensure them a larger cut of race purses but impose other obligations." The article notes that the midway through the trial the parties struck a mostly confidential settlement that "reshaped the racing organizations team charter structure." 

Irwin said he was struck by NASCAR's "prompt willingness" to settle the case after more than a year of pointed commentary that cast doubt on the teams' claims.

"While settlements happen all the time, there was a great deal of puffery going on about the merits of each party's case and not having to litigate the antitrust issue, notwithstanding the large amount of the settlement, seems to have left NASCAR with the ability to maintain its franchise and live on to fight another day," Irwin said. "The question I have is who is going to be the next well-funded plaintiff that is going to try to take this issue on."

Read the full article in Law360 here. Access may require a subscription.