Trade Secrets of Minor League Hockey?

From the Ithaca Journal (located in the scenic law school stomping grounds of my co-author) a story about alleged trade secrets stolen from a minor league hockey team.

To the point, the owner of the Elmira Jackals is accusing the team’s former general manager and assistant general manager of stealing trade secrets.

No, it’s nothing about a secret strategy for playing hockey.

Rather it’s information about “how much the Jackals' sponsors have in their advertising budgets, and what sorts of deals they like to make.”

And, the allegation is, they are doing it for their new team, the Elmira Pioneers, which competes with the Jackals for advertising dollars.

In that regard, the case sounds like a pretty standard “customer list” case, albeit in an industry where there wouldn’t appear to be many secrets about who the advertisers are that couldn’t be gleaned by reading the names on the boards.