From Cotton Bowl to Courthouse, Michael Irvin is Sued Over 4th and Long Tryout Show

By Robert Wilonsky Wed., Jun. 3 2009 at 8:14 AM

Categories: Crime, From the RTF Dept., Sports

As far as Jordan Bealmear, Shannon Clark and Christopher Harding are concerned, Michael Irvin intercepted their idea for a football tryout show. Which is why, late last week, the threesome filed suit against Irvin in Dallas County District Court in which they claim his 4th and Long, currently airing on SpikeTV, is nothing more than a ripoff of a concept they not only pitched Irvin and his agent back in 2007, but one to which he allegedly agreed to sign on to before backing off and doing his own thing.

Courthouse News Service has the 10-page complaint, in which the threesome -- who hail from California and Kentucky -- claim that in August 2007, they were able to set up a meeting with Irvin and his agent to discuss their concept, then titled Guts to Glory. They describe the show as "an open tryout by reality contestants for a position on a professional football team" for which they needed a "well-known, former NFL player" as host. They allege that Irvin had agreed to be that host in exchange for, among other things, 25 percent of the payday.

Which, the three men allege, is when everything started to go right -- Irvin pitched the show to Jerry Jones, who said, sure, love to be involved -- and when it all went wrong. They allege that Irvin's 25 percent mushroomed to 95 percent or nothing, while paper agreements turned into verbal disagreements that led to all parties going their separate ways: Irvin to SpikeTV and the Cotton Bowl, where the show was shot; the plaintiffs, to court. Will update accordingly with comments from SpikeTV and Irvin's reps, none of whom were available early this morning.

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