The Sport of Cybersecurity: How Professional Sport Leagues Can Better Protect the Competitive Integrity of Their Games

Abstract

From a Major League Baseball scouting director using a cyberattack to break into a competitor’s records, to an NBA franchise being compromised in a phishing scheme, U.S. professional sports leagues are waking up to the fact that cybersecurity is no longer just a problem for the government or tech firms—it has now reached into the playing field, locker room, and boardroom. This Article breaks new ground by examining how the four major U.S. professional sports leagues—Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League—are protecting themselves from these cyber risks that threaten the competitive integrity of their games, and proposes ways in which the leagues could do more to proactively mitigate their cyber risk.