A wide variety of groups and legal commentators have spoken out against the NFL’s position in the American Needle antitrust case. The league will now state its own case.
The NFL’s written brief to the U.S. Supreme Court is due to be filed today.
The case focuses on the exclusive apparel contract given to Reebok by the league. To avoid application of antitrust laws, which generally prevent independent businesses from banding together to set prices, the NFL claims that the 32 teams constitute a single, integrated operation.
Some fear that the league would attempt to parlay a favorable outcome before the Supreme Court into a broader effort to claim that the league is really one large business. Most importantly, such an approach would potentially block any efforts by the NFL Players Association to decertify and then file an antitrust action against the league challenging uniform rules regarding player salaries and the draft, in the event of a lockout in 2011.
The content of the league’s brief could shed light on whether the NFL plans to attempt to apply a favorable outcome in other contexts. So stay tuned. Assuming you’re still awake.
A few questions that maybe you can get answers for Florio.
One, if they are able to get a ruling that they are one big company…
then if Obamacare goes through does the NFL have to offer all employees health insurance?
if a worker of one team files a sexual abuse case, can he/she sue the entire NFL instead of just one team?
Mike, I hear you are an attorney but probably not an antitrust specialist so let me help you out. Even if the NFL succeeds at defending itself as a single “relevant product market” for sale of its broadcasting rights, exclusive licensor for apparel, etc., this does not imply that there is a single relevant product market for labor, i.e., football players, the critical input market for the NFL. Clearly the teams compete against each other in real dollar terms for players, and thus there is a good legal/economic argument that the teams should not be allowed to band together to negotiate with players.