Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law

Player Restraints And Competition Law Throughout The World, Stephen Ross Jan 2016

Player Restraints And Competition Law Throughout The World, Stephen Ross

Stephen F Ross

This article reviews agreements among clubs participating in league sports in many countries throughout the world that limit competition for the services of players. Under the English common law (which governs in most of the British commonwealth), the competition law provisions of the European Union's governing treaty, the American Sherman Act, and the Canadian Competition Act, the governing standard is quite similar. Player restraints cab only be justified if they are related to a legitimate purpose, which is usually defined as one that demonstrably improves the consumer appeal for the sporting competition. Moreover, and significantly, player restraints must be reasonably …


Monopoly Sports Leagues, Stephen Ross Jan 2016

Monopoly Sports Leagues, Stephen Ross

Stephen F Ross

This Article argues that the government should break up both Major League Baseball and the NFL to provide for competing economic entities in each sport. Part I details the harm monopoly sports leagues cause in several different markets and explains why a competitive league structure can correct such harms. Part II discusses why regulatory solutions are poor substitutes for competition as a means of redressing these harms. Part III explains why neither baseball nor football is a "natural monopoly" and argues that no persuasive evidence suggests that rival leagues cannot exist in those sports. Part IV examines how the antitrust …


The Misunderstood Alliance Between Sports Fans, Players, And The Antitrust Laws, Stephen Ross Jan 2016

The Misunderstood Alliance Between Sports Fans, Players, And The Antitrust Laws, Stephen Ross

Stephen F Ross

The baseball strike and the ongoing hostilities between the players' association and owners have evoked criticism and frustration among fans and others. Although the players successfully defeated the owners' most recent attempts to reduce major league competition, the threat of future imposition of competitive restraints by the owners remains. In this article Professor Stephen F. Ross argues that blanket restraints on the market for players affirmatively inhibit on-the-field competition and consequently offend the Sherman Act. The article begins with the proposition that monopsony - price-fixing behavior by buyers', rather than sellers' cartels - implicates the Sherman Act. Restraints on competition …


Reconsidering Flood V. Kuhn, Stephen Ross Jan 2016

Reconsidering Flood V. Kuhn, Stephen Ross

Stephen F Ross

Within the academia, two very different groups of legal scholars have devoted a great deal of attention to Flood v. Kuhn. Those specializing in sports law have either attached Flood as a ridiculous decision that improperly distinguished between baseball and other professional sports, or have praised it for waging guerrilla warfare on the idea that Section 1 of the Sherman Act should apply to intra-league arrangements by owners of the professional sports teams. Those viewing Flood through the lens of statutory interpretation perceive the decision as adhering rigidly to the principle of stare decisis; this rigidity has been both praised …


An Antitrust Analysis Of Sports League Contracts With Cable Networks, Stephen Ross Jan 2016

An Antitrust Analysis Of Sports League Contracts With Cable Networks, Stephen Ross

Stephen F Ross

This Article discusses the proper antitrust treatment of package sales to cable. Part I considers whether the antitrust laws apply at all to such sales; it concludes that section one of the Sherman Act does apply and that neither the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 not baseball's historic exemption from the antitrust laws prevents antitrust scrutiny of these contracts. Part II explains why cable package sales should be analyzed under a rule of reason test focused on the effect of a sale on fan viewership. Finally, Part III responds to several possible objections to the rule of reason standard proposed …


Accommodating Labor And Antitrust, Stephen Ross Jan 2016

Accommodating Labor And Antitrust, Stephen Ross

Stephen F Ross

In this article, the author comments on Professor Michael LeRoy's article "Federal Jurisdiction in Sports Labor Disputes" (2012 Utah L. Rev. 815) and explains why he disagrees with the claim that federal courts improperly invoke the Sherman Act in sports labor disputes.


A Rapid Reaction To O'Bannon: The Need For Analytics In Applying The Sherman Act To Overly Restrictive Joint Venture Schemes, Stephen Ross, Wayne Desarbo Jan 2016

A Rapid Reaction To O'Bannon: The Need For Analytics In Applying The Sherman Act To Overly Restrictive Joint Venture Schemes, Stephen Ross, Wayne Desarbo

Stephen F Ross

This Article reviews the recent and highly publicized district court decision holding that NCAA rules, which bar student-athletes from any compensation for image rights, violated the Sherman Act, and that big-time athletic programs could lawfully agree among themselves to limit compensation to $5,000 annually in trust for each athlete upon leaving school. This Article briefly discusses why the decision correctly found the current rule to be illegal, but also details why, under settled antitrust law, the critical question of how much compensation would significantly harm consumer appeal for college football and basketball is a question better left to marketing science …


The Empire Strikes Back: Nfl Cuts Clarett, Sacks Scheindlin, Adam Epstein Dec 2004

The Empire Strikes Back: Nfl Cuts Clarett, Sacks Scheindlin, Adam Epstein

Adam Epstein

The article explores and the litigation history involving former Ohio State University running back Maurice Clarett and his challenge the the NFL draft-eligibility rule. Though Clarett was successful at the U.S. District Court level, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled differently, thereby preventing Clarett from being eligible for the 2004 NFL draft. Though he was drafted the next year (2005), an exploration of the differences between the trial court (Hon. Schendlin) and the appellate court (J. Sotomayor) opinions is quite interesting and relevant in the context of both antitrust and labor law, particularly the mandatory subjects of a collective …