Court rules against the NFL, bad news for the BCS

[Mars]

Supreme Court Strengthens Antitrust Case against the BCS
http://www.playoffpac.com/blog/Read.aspx?ID=251

In short, the NFL was sued for restricting trade. Their defense claimed it was okay, because the NFL was one body and so they weren't restricting the Dolphins or the Patriots individually when they made a decision for everyone at once. They were taken to court and lost, with the ruling coming down that each team was an individual business.

What that means is that the BCS can't claim that the big conferences can't hurt the little conferences because they are all a part of the BCS. Instead, legally it's very clear that what the Oklahomas do really CAN restrict trade for the BYUs of the world. Thus they can be sued, successfully, for anti-trust.

Mark Shurtleff is gonna love this!

[Mingjai]

I look at this case a no big deal in the context of the BCS. The question before the court is whether the NFL constitutes a single entity, and therefore cannot be sues under §1 of the Sherman Act, because a single entity cannot conspire or contract with itself. The court ruled in this case that the NFL does not constitute a single entity, and therefore can be sued under the Sherman Act. But they sent the case back to the circuit court to apply rule of reason analysis.

The court also said: "The fact that NFL teams share an interest in making the entire league successful and profitable, and that they must cooperate in the production and scheduling of games, provides a perfectly sensible justification for making a host of collective decisions. But the conduct at issue in this case is still concerted activity under the Sherman Act that is subject to §1 analysis."

It's not a good ruling for the BCS, but I thought the BCS would have a much harder time making the single entity argument than the NFL, so even if the ruling went the other way, it wouldn't be devastating for the anti-BCS case.

[Ddawg]

Nice!! I like this ruling & the implications for the BCS. Three words - "Burn it down!!"