NCAA Ref Can’t Sue Radio Station Over March Madness Harassment

The First Amendment bars an NCAA basketball referee’s claims that Kentucky Sports Radio’s 2017 March Madness coverage contributed to fans’ harassment of him and damaged his roofing business, the Sixth Circuit said.

The station’s free speech rights protected not only its negative reporting about the referee’s game calls, but also its later coverage of fans’ threats to to his family and their targeting of his business through negative online reviews and other means, the appeals court said. The coverage sometimes made light of the harassment.

John Higgins officiated an Elite Eight nailbiter between the Kentucky Wildcats and the North Carolina ...