NFL Free Agency Is Here, and So Is Misinformation Season

Irwin Kishner, co-chair of Herrick's Sports Law Group, was quoted in Front Office Sports on the distribution of misinformation during the NFL free agency season.

The article notes that contract numbers are often inflated when being reported to the public. Deals that are not fully guaranteed "open the door for some creative framing." Further, according to the article, "[o]ther growing sources for the distribution of those fluffed-up contract numbers—and sometimes more insidious information—are aggregator accounts and even sports impersonators." 

In those situations, do aggregator account owners, or even the social media apps they’re using, carry any liability? “It’s a very thorny legal issue that centers around the First Amendment,” said Kishner. Ultimately, he notes, "the juice probably isn’t worth the squeeze for anyone trying to take legal action."

Read the full article in Front Office Sports here. Access may require a subscription.