Supreme Court rules NFL is not single business
American Needle Inc., a sporting goods manufacturer based in Buffalo Grove, Ill., sued the NFL in 2004, charging that the teams conspired in violation of antitrust laws when they signed an exclusive 10-year contract with Reebok in 2001.
For all the debate about the impact the case could have on varied aspects of the sports business — licensing, labor, franchise sales and media rights among them — the court made its decision based on a narrow question: Whether the league and its teams were capable of conspiring in violation of antitrust laws, or whether they should be exempt from such scrutiny because they operate as a single enterprise. The court found that the fact that the teams joined together to issue licenses does not make them a single entity, as the NFL argued when it asked that the case be dismissed.
SportingNews.com
5/25/10
Magnolia Tribune
