BCSP: The Banner of Black College Sports

SWAC wins battle over TV contract

LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor

The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced Monday that its year-long court battle with television partner Street and Smith's Productions, now known as NASCAR Images, has been settled with the productions company agreeing to pay the conference an undisclosed sum of money.

According to the settlement, Street and Smith's must immediately terminate the four-year exclusive rights agreement with the SWAC which was scheduled to expire on December 31, 2002.

The outcome is a stunning reversal of the original court action filed by Street and Smith's last July and puts a halt to a contentious battle that has raged in federal district court in Charlotte since that time.

"This settlement vindicates the SWAC's initial attempt to terminate the contract," said SWAC General Counsel, Delane Rosemond Tuesday from his office in Birmingham, Alabama.
"The SWAC made a good-faith attempt last summer to bring about some resolution to the dispute between the parties. Street and Smith's filed a lawsuit against us and we ultimately had to defend ourselves."

Street and Smith's initiated legal action last July after SWAC Commissioner Rudy Washington sent them a letter in June effectively terminating the company's exclusive four-year agreement to televise SWAC football and basketball games signed in January 1999. Washington said in the letter to Street and Smith's CEO Tom Grabowski that the company had compromised the SWAC's interests, alienated vendors and was not acting in the best interest of the conference. Washington also accused Street and Smith's of a "conflict of interest" charging that the company was attempting to "strong arm" Black Entertainment Television (BET) and the Major Broadcasting Company (MBC) to accept a show produced by the company in addition to the SWAC telecasts. Grabowski responded in a letter saying that Washington could not unilaterally cancel the contract.

Street and Smith's filed suit in Mecklenburg (N. C.) Superior Court seeking a temporary restraining order that Judge Beverly Beal denied. They subsequently sued for and were granted a preliminary injunction that kept the contract in effect while the parties sought arbitration to resolve the matter. At the SWAC's request, the case was transferred to and heard in federal district court in Charlotte by Judge Graham Mullen who has been on the case since.

Street and Smith's then returned to court in October charging that Washington was inhibiting implementation of the contract after he turned down Street and Smith's structure of sponsorship deals with Colgate-Palmolive and Ford. While that motion was denied by Mullen, the company eventually had Washington charged with contempt of court.

Just before the Dec. 11 SWAC Championship football game in Birmingham, Street and Smith's again went before Mullen charging that Washington and the SWAC were prohibiting the company from placing signs and banners at Birmingham's Legion Field, the site of the contest. The parties resolved the matter before the judge ruled.

The parties were scheduled for arbitration in late January but the SWAC asked for a continuance when documents they requested from the company for the hearing were not given to them. The SWAC filed a motion to compel the company to turn over the papers which stated, among other things, that Street and Smith's had assigned their contracts to Nascar Images, a company that bought out Street and Smith's in a deal finalized last year.

The SWAC said in a motion filed on January 30 of this year seeking to dissolve the preliminary injunction that terms of the original contract forbade Street and Smith's from assigning the contract to another party.

That revelation apparently sealed Street and Smith's attempts to keep the contract in effect and led to the company settling the matter out of court for an amount believed to be in the six-figure range.

"Not only are we happy with the settlement, but we're also happy that this long saga is finally over," Washington said in a statement released by the SWAC office Monday.

"We're already working on finalizing a new television package with another entity which would give the conference more exposure across the board than we've ever had. We hope to be able to release the football television schedule within a few weeks."

One of the issues still facing the SWAC, according to Rosemond, is the damage done to potential sponsors like Colgate and Ford.

"The lawsuit may have damaged the SWAC's relationship with sponsors and potential sponsors," said Rosemond. "We're in the process of ascertaining the extent of those damages and seeking to restore the goodwill among them. Certainly, we value the relationship with sponsors like Colgate-Palmolive and Ford and hope that there has been no serious damage."

© 2001 Azeez Communications, Inc.