As the first hearing in the Tom Brady antitrust case against the NFL is poised to commence on Wednesday, the other antitrust case against the NFL has been officially added to the Brady case for the purposes of Wednesday’s hearing on motions to lift the lockout.
Specifically, the case filed by Hall of Fame defensive end Carl Eller and several other former players and one low-level, largely unknown rookie has been consolidated with the Brady case, at least for the purposes of tomorrow’s hearing on motions filed by the plaintiffs in each case to lift the lockout.
As Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal explained on Tuesday’s edition of PFT Live, the court has given the plaintiffs in each case 20 minutes of argument time. The league has 20 minutes to respond to each motion, essentially giving the NFL 40 minutes to address the same primary arguments being made against it.
Thus, it’s no surprise that the NFL agreed to the consolidation.
Kaplan also said that the Brady plaintiffs will be asked on Wednesday for a position on whether the cases should generally be combined, for all purposes. From a legal strategy standpoint, the players should say no. From a P.R. standpoint, refusing to team up with the case filed by the retired players could be a bad move.