Request By:
Nicholas Baker, Esquire
Amlung and Baker
Attorneys-at-Law
Suite 208
310 West Liberty Street
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Reid C. James Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your recent request for an opinion of this office regarding KRS 244.130(2)(c), and the applicability of that provision to uniforms worn by participants in a racquetball tournament. You have noted that Louisville radio station WLRS, in promoting a local racquetball tournament sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, wishes to provide each of the nearly four hundred expected participants with a T-shirt displaying a malt beverage advertisement. It is specifically asked whether this activity is within the purview of KRS 244.130(2)(c), so that it is not prohibited by KRS 244.130(1).
KRS 244.130, as amended by the 1978 General Assembly, provides,
(1) Except in conformity with regulations of the board, no licensee under KRS 243.020 to 243.670 shall:
(a) Advertise or cause or permit to be advertised in any manner any product which he is licensed to manufacture or sell; nor
(b) Have or exhibit in a window any display of alcoholic beverages.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not prohibit:
(a) Advertising in newspapers, magazines, or periodicals having general circulation among regular paying subscribers or patrons;
(b) Promotional advertising on radio or television limited to no more than the name of the license and the products the licenseeis permitted to manufacture or sell;
(c) Promotional advertising containing the names of establishments or products displayed on uniforms or equipment of sporting teams.
The substance of that amendment was the addition of subsections (b) and (c) of section (2).
Based on this statute your question essentially becomes, "Are participants in a racquetball tournament members of sporting teams? " We have found no prior opinion of this office or court decision defining the term "sporting team. " However, our response would be a qualified no. The sport of racquetball may be viewed both as an individual and as a team sport, depending upon the manner of play.
Team is defined in Webster's New World Dictionary (1968), as a group of people constituting one side in a contest or competition. This definition clearly speaks in plurals, i.e. two or more persons working in a concerted effort toward a common goal. Sport is defined by that same text as requiring more or less vigorous bodily exertion carried on according to some traditional form or set of rules.
A sporting team would therefore appear to be one in which two or more people participate in a common physical activity carried on according to a set of rules -- such as racquetball. The important distinction, of course, are the words two or more people. Racquetball can be played on an individual or a team basis. The teams need not be professional, nor exist beyond the date of the event.
Based upon the circumstances you have presented, it would appear that the tournament in question in its present form does not involve team competition. Advertisements promoting malt beverages should therefore not appear on the T-shirts of the participants.
Should you have further inquiries in this regard please feel free to contact me.