From a pure legal standpoint, the issue was whether the use of player statistics to play fantasy sports violated player rights of publicity and, even if it did, whether the First Amendment trumped any such state rights of publicity. At the time of the suit, the fantasy industry was valued at $1.5 billion annually.
A deeper dive into the facts revealed a much more compelling story for the fantasy industry and against Major League Baseball than that signaled by the pure legal issue. As it turns out, Major League Baseball played no part in developing fantasy sports. An editor for The New York Times thought of it. In the 1980s, devoted fans created and managed their own statistical games with an estimation of 500,000 fans playing annually.
In the 1990s and moving forward, software companies like CBC developed state-of-the-art software to manage the statistic interface and to create many forms of interesting fantasy games. The software made it far easier for the average fan to play and track the games, dramatically increasing the popularity of fantasy sports.
At the time of the suit, an estimated 15 million fans played fantasy sports annually. CBC brought in many witnesses to explain in detail how fantasy sports had actually made Major League Baseball far more money by causing devoted fans to watch many more games than just those of their home town team and encouraging them to buy more merchandise, satellite television packages and fantasy sports media, to name just some of the benefits. Indeed, the fantasy industry helped Major League Baseball and its players; it had not damaged them in the least.
This compelling version transcended the mere legal issues. CBC prevailed at the District Court level and was affirmed on appeal.