2 New Orleans Bars Allegedly Intercepted Sports Matches for Profit

The exclusive U.S. rights holder for closed-circuit broadcasts of boxing and soccer matches went after two New Orleans bars and restaurants in separate actions Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans for intercepting the matches and displaying them for profit on big-screen TVs without a license. Innovative Sports Management, d/b/a Integrated Sports Media, alleged in one complaint (docket 2:22-cv-03791) that the American Sports Saloon stole the February 2021 boxing match between Saul Alvarez and Avni Yildirim, in violation of the Telecommunications Act. In a separate complaint in the same court (docket 2:22-cv-03792), Finn McCool’s Irish Pub was alleged to have intercepted the November 2021 soccer match between Brazil and Argentina. Both complaints alleged the establishments and their owners acted “willfully and for purposes of direct and/or indirect commercial advantage and/or private financial gain.” Innovative “stands ready to present eye-witness testimony and other evidence supporting all allegations,” said the complaints. Both actions seek statutory damages of up to $10,000 for each violation. Efforts to reach the owners of the two establishments for comment were unsuccessful Wednesday. Tenafly, New Jersey-based Innovative is the same company that went after a slew of bars in three California jurisdictions Oct. 5 and 6 for showing the October 2021 soccer match between Brazil and Colombia without a license (see 2210070021).