Case Study Intellectual American Needle

The NFL benefits from having football being a common conversation point in schools and workplaces. From fantasy football leagues to highly intricate betting in Las Vegas. There is not just passion, but dollars and time being invested by the end consumer. The NFL saturates Thanksgiving television, it’s players are often celebrities, its story lines are on the tip the American male. Knowing the game of football is often a rite of passage. Football is American tradition. The NFL clearly has it’s place in American culture. It is evident in the outpouring of corporate sponsors into the league. Companies recognize the visibility NFL players offer to their products and the NFL leverages that back into its brand. All aspects surrounding the sport are sponsored. From the sports drink the players slurp then dump on their coaches after victories—to the on-the-field tablets branded with the iconic window for drawing up plays. The jerseys, cleats, gloves, hats, helmets, pads—and that is just on the field. There’s food, cars, watches, headphones—it seems everything that scrapes past the NFL becomes sponsored in some way. Backing from the NFL appears to currently have exponential upside increasing brand awareness.

The court stated the Grizzles failed to show any actual or potential injury to the economic competition. The NFL met with the Grizzles three times to hear their statements of why they should be added to the league, and had also already made the decision that expansion to the league was unnecessary before the Grizzlies application was even reviewed, they did however inform the team that they would receive “serious consideration” in the future if they were ever to expand. Therefore, the NFL was never making their decision unfairly, or treating the team poorly when it came to reviewing their application. The NFL was even able to show proof of this because of how sporadic the NFL expands their franchise, never having a set time or date when this events would occur. Also the Grizzles failed to prove that the league was abusing its power by not allowing them in because they are “rivals”, according to Judge Grim in a case a twenty years back over television policies within the NFL, he described that the professional teams “must not compete too well with each other in a business was, but on the playing field they must compete as hard as they can at all times.”. The NFL showed that they were only rivals when it came to the field, not in any business form whatsoever. The courts even saw that even though the NFL did not accept the Grizzles into the league, they still showed pro competitive interleague effects because the Grizzles were still able to become a franchise for a potential competitors league. After the courts decision on this case that the NFL was not in the wrong for not accepting the Grizzlies, this allowed no only the NFL but other professional sport teams to regulate their own memberships, and be in complete control with how their league will grow and become very

While growing up in the state of Texas I was introduced to National Football League (NFL) at a very young age. Not only was I obsessed with great players like Emmitt Smith and Michael Irving, I had a more finical appreciation for the lucrativeness associated with the NFL. My young adulthood as well as my teenage years was spent playing and learning football with the aspirations of hopefully making it to the NFL. Unfortunately, my playing days ended with tryouts at Texas Tech University, but my love for the game has remained stagnant over the years even till this day. The NFL today is Americas most watched sports league and has taken the crown as the most lucrative and unique economic force in sports. Forbes offered approximations stating that on average, the NFL generates more than $6-9 billion a year in revenues alone. A third of the individual franchises in the league were appraised at over more than $1 billion while the other franchises average nine figures or higher. The NFL as an organization generates its revenues through a multitude of ways ranging from huge television contracts, in-stadium ticket sales, advertising ads paid for by sponsors and merchandise. Their business model unlike most other leagues, is centered on a hard salary cap on player contracts which provides cost certainty with its sponsors. In this paper, I will examine the economic and historical narrative associated with the growth of the NFL’s

Unknowingly, Antitrust began a cycle of Rule of Reason, which is the Lax Enforcement, and the Per Se Rule, which is the tight enforcement (Boyes 2013, p 249). Litigation of the Antirust law was not frequent, and that’s because between the years of passage 1890 and 1914, only seven cases were tried by the Supreme Court, in which they broke up monopolized companies like Northern Securities, and Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey; but also allowed the formation of major league baseball. This period of Lax Enforcement ended with the passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act, and ushered in Per Se Rule. The changes to Antitrust laws gave a more clear definition to the law by guide lining the prohibitions of price discrimination, the creations of barriers to enter a market, outlaws mergers deemed unfair, and imbalanced methods of business; the Federal Trade Commission was also allowed to investigate into these practices. Since 1941, the FTC and it parent division, the Justice Department, had filed over 2,800 cases related to Antitrust, but it is the private sector that had an exponential amount lawsuits filed. Between the passage of these two laws and the Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, who prized the laws, any inkling of proof that a business could be monopolizing or engaging in unfair business practices, almost always lead to a guilty verdict that mostly results in a heavy fine, and in extreme

Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act prohibits the efforts of multiple firms to restrain trade by controlling prices and supply in a market (46 Case W. Res. 1033). In terms of a professional sports league, a

“Were the public to view college football as mainly a business, it might start asking questions. For instance: why are these enterprises that have nothing to do with education and everything to do with profits exempt from paying taxes? Or why don’t they pay their employees? This is maybe the oddest aspect of the college football business. Everyone associated with it is getting rich except the people whose labor creates the value” (Lewis,

The National Football League(NFL) is running one of its own games on the public, and as one the most supported non-profit organizations in American history. The NFL excels at tackling the American taxpayer. It should be of no surprise that with its religious-like following, the NFL receives the same tax-exempt status as a church, exempted under the IRS 501 (c)(6) code from paying federal taxes. The legislation puts the NFL as a non-profit trade association which it has been under since 1942. This statement intends me to ask what Steve Almond asked in his book “Against Football: One Fan 's Reluctant Manifesto” how did this happen (Almond pg.81)? Imagine driving through a city. The things you see around you are: average constructed schools, average constructed houses, bumpy roads, and very old structured buildings. Oh but wait, in the middle of the city you see a huge modern electrical sign on top of a huge modern structure saying “The Coca Cola Arena”. At this minute you may ask, how can a very average sized constructed town have one the most fascinating buildings in the world? This to me is very controversial and leads me to agree with Steve Almonds claim that the NFL is an ideal model of crony capitalism and a corporate oligarchy.

I think that this case received strong opinions from both sides of the bench. I don’t think that it would have been appropriate to drop the case, as was initially attempted. However, based on the dissenting

A lawyer Jeffrey Kessler who is a partner at Winston & Strawn filed an anti-trust lawsuit back in March to remove the restrictions on compensating student-athletes based on the huge amount of revenue being generated. His lawsuit could also derail the current financial system of college atheletes by impletementing a pay for play system. This is another tricky situation as it would be hard to decide who to pay, how much to pay, and if there should be any limits. Kessler ultimately feels that this is the right time to fight this batltle as there is “A growing recognition from the courts, the public, the fans, and even the schools that the current system is fundamentally unfair.”

American Needle Inc. filed a suit in an Illinois district court against the NFL, NFLP, NFL teams, and Reebok, claiming that this exclusive license agreement violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 § U.S.C. 1, which outlaws any “contract, combination . . . or conspiracy, in restraint of trade.” American Needle argued that because individual teams separately own their team logos and trademarks, their collective agreement to authorize NFLP to award the exclusive headwear license to Reebok, was a conspiracy to restrict other vendors' ability to obtain licenses for the teams' intellectual property.

For the plaintiff’s arguments, Needle argued that the NFL teams (specifically NFLP and Reebok) violated sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act by sighting violating activity within the market of each NFL team’s intellectual property. For the defendant's arguments, the teams of the NFL, and NFLP, said that all 32 teams have their own market business, each separate from the rest. This means each and every business has the right to freely share licenses with vendors and companies. The defendants arguments were very true, making the plaintiff shaky about the case.

These leagues have been lobbying to help overturn the old law and make sports wagering legal nationwide. The National Basketball Association is currently in talks to receive a 1% “integrity & rights” fee from all sportsbooks. The 1% fee not only allows the NBA to be compensated for its intellectual property, but also allows the NBA to control and monitor wagering data to keep the integrity of the game. (Liptak & Draper) By following the NBA’s model, the NFL has an opportunity to not only grow their fan base but also increase their revenue

First, we recognize from the majority and dissent opinions in Waicker that the argument for judicial economy often cuts both ways. See generally Waicker, 347 Md. 108. In this case, however, the interests of judicial economy are best served by permitting this entire action to be resolved in its original forum. Were it not for our probation of declaratory judgment actions while an action involving similar issues was pending, “‘almost any pending action could be interrupted and held at bay until the determination, in one or more subsequently instituted declaratory judgment actions, of issues culled out of the pending action.’” Id. at 429 (quoting Redmond v. Matthies, 180 A.2d 639, 642 (Conn. 1962)). The most efficient mean to resolve this litigation would be for the entire

reversed the decision with a divided panel. Their assertion stated that there was no obvious use of an

Gathering of increasing wealth at the expense of the common man is immoral. Many of the antitrust cases I reviewed indicated the desire by a company’s brain trust to merely accumulate more wealth. It did not appear the interest of the average consumer was of any concern to the corporation. Evidence of price fixing, collusion and the creation of barriers into a market is common place. It is apparent the corporate sector has forgotten one important fact. The major source of income for any corporation who sells goods and services comes from the everyday consumer.