Mitre Sports Sues HBO Over Allegedly False "Real Sports" Story

Mitre Says Retailers Removed Its Products After HBO Story

Mitre Sports Int'l, one of the world's largest soccer-ball manufacturers, filed suit in Manhattan Federal Court on October 23 charging HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" with "libel and claiming it lost 'tens of millions of dollars' because of the negative portrayal" in a September 16 feature story, according to Janon Fisher of the N.Y. POST. The show claimed that Mitre "subjugates children in India by forcing them to work long hours stitching soccer balls for little money in squalid conditions." However, Mitre said that it "obtained video interviews with the parents of the children," which indicated the kids "were not factory employees and that they had been offered money or fame to lie on camera." Mitre attorney Lloyd Constantine in the suit said that as a result of the HBO profile, Wal-Mart and Dick's Sporting Goods "immediately removed all Mitre Cobra soccer balls from their stores." Mitre believes that it was "targeted by HBO because it is a high-profile foreign manufacturer with exclusive contracts" with MLS and the English Premier League. HBO declined to comment on the suit, "citing pending litigation" (N.Y. POST, 11/2).