## Facts

- ESPN, Inc. (ESPN) and the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball (Baseball) entered a national telecasting agreement under which ESPN would broadcast Major League Baseball games in exchange for annual rights fees.
- ESPN failed to air six scheduled baseball games.
- Despite not airing those games, ESPN paid Baseball the full amount due under the contract.
- Baseball sued ESPN for breach of contract and sought additional damages it stated were “believed to exceed millions of dollars,” including alleged harm to the value of Baseball’s television package, revenue, and national television exposure.
- During discovery, ESPN demanded concrete proof of Baseball’s alleged monetary losses and how any such losses could be calculated.
- Baseball’s written discovery responses did not quantify damages and did not identify specific lost deals or specific dollar amounts attributable to the six missed telecasts.
- Baseball’s designated Rule 30(b)(6) witness likewise could not provide specific examples of financial harm or a method for computing the claimed multi‑million‑dollar damages.
- Before trial, the parties filed multiple motions in limine. The opinion at 76 F. Supp. 2d 416 addresses ESPN’s motion in limine seeking to preclude Baseball from presenting evidence or argument of monetary damages that ESPN contended were unsupported and speculative.

## Issues

1. Whether, under New York contract law, Baseball could present to the jury claims for substantial monetary damages where it had received the full contract price and could not provide a non-speculative basis to quantify additional losses allegedly caused by ESPN’s failure to air six games.
2. Whether the court should grant ESPN’s motion in limine to exclude evidence and argument seeking “millions of dollars” in damages based on generalized assertions of lost exposure, lost opportunities, or diminished future package value.

## Decision

- The court granted ESPN’s motion in limine in substantial part, precluding Baseball from presenting evidence or argument seeking large, unquantified monetary damages grounded in speculation.
- The court found that Baseball had not produced evidence from which a reasonable jury could calculate actual monetary loss with reasonable certainty attributable to the six games that did not air.
- Because ESPN had paid all contractually owed rights fees, and Baseball could not identify concrete additional losses tied to the missed broadcasts, Baseball was effectively limited to nominal damages (and any specifically provable, non-speculative losses, if any).

## Legal Principles

- Contract damages under New York law must be proven with reasonable certainty; a plaintiff must provide a rational, evidentiary basis for a jury to compute damages.
- A plaintiff may not recover consequential or expectancy damages that are remote or speculative, particularly where the claimed harm rests on generalized assertions rather than identifiable financial loss.
- When the contract price has been paid in full, claims for additional monetary recovery require proof of actual loss beyond the amount already received; without such proof, substantial damages may be excluded before trial.
- A motion in limine may be used to prevent a party from presenting damages theories that, after discovery, lack sufficient evidentiary support to allow a non-speculative jury award.
- Even if a breach is shown, nominal damages may be available where actual damages are not proven with reasonable certainty.

## Conclusion

In ESPN, Inc. v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, 76 F. Supp. 2d 416 (S.D.N.Y. 1999), the court ruled on ESPN’s pretrial request to block Baseball’s sweeping damages claims after ESPN failed to air six games but paid the full rights fees; because Baseball could not identify concrete monetary losses or a workable method to quantify its alleged multi‑million‑dollar harm, the court largely excluded those damages theories and left Baseball, at most, with nominal or otherwise specifically provable non-speculative damages.


ESPN, Inc. v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, 76 F. Supp. 2d 416 (1999)