Sporting & Competition Organizations

Cirque Analytics has extensive experience in litigation involving professional and amateur sports leagues across a range of allegations. Major sports leagues like the NBA, MLB, the NFL, and the NCAA are frequently involved in complex litigation. For example, sports leagues often face challenges under competition laws related to league-wide salary caps, exclusive team territorial agreements, or monopolistic control over college athletics by the NCAA, and name, image, and likeness (“NIL”) rights for collegiate athletes. Assessing damages and liability in this matters requires an understanding of market power, revenue distribution agreements, and competitive spillover effects across teams, players, and markets. Using econometric models, we test theories of harm and quantify damages, whether it be lost earnings or employment opportunities, inflated ticket prices for fans, or inappropriate distributions of broadcasting revenues. For media rights disputes in particular, Cirque Analytics has deep experience in evaluating lucrative broadcasting and streaming contracts, viewership metrics, advertising revenues, competitive bidding processes, and estimates of financial gains or losses from alleged wrongdoing.

Cirque Analytics has also consulted on matters concerning player rights, such as disputes over collective bargaining agreements, free agency restrictions, and the NCAA’s amateurism and academic eligibility rules. In such cases, we have provided key economic and data analysis by examining compensation structures, labor market dynamics, and historical earnings and performance data to determine if players have been unfairly restricted, underpaid, or otherwise harmed in ways consistent with the allegations. 

Throughout the litigation process, we support our clients by simulating the financial implications of alternative policies or settlement scenarios and assist in strategic decision-making, such as how to address opposing experts’ analyses. We combine analysis of granular data—such as ticket sales, merchandise revenue, or salary and performance databases—with deep economic insight into the sports industry, and thereby help our clients craft compelling arguments, deliver expert testimony, expose flaws in opposing arguments, and achieve successful outcomes at trial.