The Philadelphia Phillies accuse two sports analytics companies, Zelus Analytics and its owner, Teamworks Innovations, of reneging on their Phillies contract by allegedly planning to sell a platform that provides proprietary baseball analytics models and metrics platforms to NL East rivals and other MLB teams.
The Phillies filed a complaint last Friday in a Pennsylvania federal district court. Through attorney Phillip D. Berger, the Phillies demand a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction. These measures would block Zelus and Teamworks from sharing the “Titan Intelligence Platform or any of its components” with any other NL East teams or with other MLB teams, save for one team in each division.
In 2022, the Phillies first negotiated an exclusive license with Zelus (which Teamworks acquired last year) to use Titan Intelligence within the NL East. The contract also stated that Zelus couldn’t license the platform to more than one club per MLB division. The Phillies say that since 2022, they have paid more than $1.75 million for access to Titan and its analytics models. The team also says it has committed an additional $725K (or $675K via prepayment) for the 2025 season.
The Phillies describe Titan as crucial to gaining a competitive advantage over their opponents. The platform informs Phillies’ decision-makers about a wide range of baseball operation decisions, including for “player evaluation, prospective assessment, trade analysis, roster construction, asset valuation and on-field strategy.” The Phillies stress “exclusive” access to these analytical tools play an instrumental role in cultivating strategies for player acquisitions, roster management choices and maximizing players’ performances. As described in the complaint, Titan reflects separate, but integrated, components including “data engine,” “roster intelligence” and “game intelligence.”
The origin of the dispute began last month, when the Phillies exercised a contractual option to extend the agreement through the 2025 season. As the Phillies tell it, the defendants then tried to “alter the scope of the exclusivity provisions” by proposing they could sell individual Titan components to more teams, including potentially other NL East teams, than the agreed-upon restriction for Titan.
The Phillies maintain no components should be sold beyond the restriction. To do so, the Phillies argue, would “effectively undermine the fundamental purpose” of the exclusivity clause, “for which the Phillies paid a substantial premium.”
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe, who will weigh whether to grant a temporary restraining order. She’ll consider whether the Phillies would suffer irreparable harm without such an order. Irreparable harm generally refers to the kind of harm that money damages can’t remedy, meaning money can’t put the plaintiff in the same position they’d be in once the harm occurs. In the sports context, irreparable harm can occur if an athlete is going to miss a game since the game will never be replayed. Another example is when trade secrets are lost, and the result is a market-shifting event.
The Phillies maintain they’ll suffer irreparable harm since they’d lose the value of exclusivity. Other teams would gain “access to the same proprietary analytics capabilities,” thus possibly nullifying the competitive advantage of those capabilities. The loss of that advantage, the Phillies insist, would undermine the resources they rely on when making baseball management moves and other strategic choices. “The harm suffered by the Phillies,” the complaint asserts, “cannot be adequately remedied by monetary damages alone, as the competitive advantage secured through the division exclusivity agreement and six-team limitation is unique and cannot be precisely quantified.”
In a statement, a Teamworks spokesperson said, “Teamworks Intelligence, formerly Zelus Analytics, is proud to offer analytics capabilities so differentiated, impactful, and innovative that the Phillies have attempted to block its rivals from gaining access. While we cannot comment on the specifics of the litigation, we are confident that Teamworks is acting in compliance with the agreement. We look forward to resolving this matter, and in the meantime, we will continue delivering world-class solutions that equip organizations to make decisions that help them excel on and off the field.”
Teamworks and Zelus will have the chance to answer the complaint and deny wrongdoing. They might argue that selling components in the manner they allegedly intend would not violate the contract. In addition, the defendants might provide additional context that changes how the legal arguments are evaluated. Expect them to also point out that temporary restraining orders are considered extraordinary forms of relief and necessitate a very compelling argument.
(This story has been updated to include a statement from Teamworks.)
