Corporate & Securities Law

Supreme Court Accepts Another Antitrust Case: American Needle v. NFL

By David Fischer

Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted cert in American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League, et al.  The issue in the case is whether or not the NFL, its teams and the Players Association functioned as a single entity.  In short, if they did function as a single entity, then there cannot be Section 1 liability.

Both the district court and the seventh circuit found that the defendants (i.e., the NFL entities) were a single entity.  AR coverage of the seventh circuit decision is here.

An interesting aspect of this case is that the Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General for her opinion and the Solicitor General recommended the Court deny cert.  Granting cert after the SG has weighed in to the contrary is extremely rare.

The Sports Law Blog has noted that the “NFL?and other professional sports leagues in the U.S.?have a tremendous amount to gain from the Supreme Court?s decision, but not much to lose.”  At the Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog, Chris Sagers has a lengthy (and passionate) post in which he speculates that “in short, there are probably four pretty solid votes for affirmance, one more (Kennedy) that seems only marginally less solid for defendants, and either of two (Breyer and Sotomayor) that might also sign on for affirmance.”

American Needle’s Cert Petition.

The NFL’s brief.

American Needle’s supplemental brief.

The Solicitor General’s brief.

Seventh Circuit opinion.

Full post as published by Antitrust Review on June 30, 2009 (boomark / email).