The National Football League is not a single business shielded from antitrust laws, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, dealing a setback to sports leagues that seek to closely control the marketing of their teams and their spinoff products.
DAVID G. SAVAGE, Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The National Football League is not a single business shielded from antitrust laws, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, dealing a setback to sports leagues that seek to closely control the marketing of their teams and their spinoff products.
The 9-0 ruling leaves the owners of most pro sports teams subject to being sued if they agree among themselves to restrict competition between the teams over their sale of merchandise. The ruling reinstates an antitrust suit filed by a suburban Chicago maker of stocking caps that lost its right to use NFL logos on its caps.
Ten years ago, the NFL gave Reebok an exclusive license to sell caps and hats with team logos. American Needle, Inc., the suburban Chicago company that lost out, contended the deal hurt consumers and competition.
But a judge in Chicago and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the antitrust suit on the grounds that the NFL was a "single entity" and cannot be accused of conspiring with itself.
The Supreme Court disagreed in American Needle Inc. v. the National Football League and ruled the owners can sometimes be sued if they conspire among themselves to restrict competition.