Over Forty Years in the On-Deck Circle: Congress and the Baseball Antitrust Exemption

Authors

Ed Edmonds, Notre Dame Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1994

Publication Information

19 T. Marshall L. Rev. 627 (1993-1994)

Abstract

"Congressional discussion of baseball's antitrust exemption stretches over forty years involving a significant number of legislative initiatives. Although the exemption is a judicial aberration without justification, the 103d Congress will probably be no more successful than its predecessors in altering its long-standing existence. The three bills under consideration are not specifically crafted to resolve the problems of the changes in the commissioner's office or the lack of an expansion franchise or the relocation of an existing franchise to the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. Much of the history of Congressional concern over baseball's antitrust status suggests that broad-based attempts to completely remove the exemption will not produce a favorable vote. Only legislation tailored to a specific problem, such as the Sports Broadcasting Act, would offer a solution in these two areas."

Comments

Cited in an amicus curiae brief filed by the Major League Baseball Players Association supporting a petition for certiorari in Tri-City ValleyCats, Inc., et al, Petitioners v. The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball.

Recommended Citation

Ed Edmonds, Over Forty Years in the On-Deck Circle: Congress and the Baseball Antitrust Exemption, 19 T. Marshall L. Rev. 627 (1993-1994).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/470