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Protecting Big Data In The Big Leagues: Trade Secrets In Professional Sports, Lara Grow, Nathaniel Grow

Washington and Lee Law Review

The protection of trade secrets within the professional sports industry became a hot-button issue in the summer of 2015, after news reports emerged revealing that officials from Major League Baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals were under federal investigation for having illegally accessed proprietary information belonging to their league rival, the Houston Astros. Indeed, professional sports teams in the United States and Canada often possess various forms of proprietary information or processes—ranging from scouting reports and statistical analyses to dietary regimens and psychological assessment techniques—giving them a potential competitive advantage over their rivals. Unfortunately, as with the rest of the economy at-large, …