Anti-trust Exemption Challenge?

[auggie22]

http://www.courant.com/politics/hc-p-blank-checks-must-end-2-20140922-story.html

Have not seen this discussed here on an article that has been published for a few days. I don't know the odds of this moving forward, but it seems the implications of such legislation would be significant for college sports as well. Thoughts?

 

[pj]

He's an idiot. Antitrust law forbids cooperation between teams, i.e. forbids the establishment of leagues and forbids rules to ensure competitiveness/parity and the financial success of teams in weaker markets. The NFL would become unwatchable. This sort of cooperation should not be within the scope of antitrust law; it was a mistake that the antitrust laws were written in overly broad terms. The exemption remedies that mistake.

In college we have a different situation, where one group of schools (the P5) is taking steps to concentrate the money in college athletics and deprive other schools of a chance to earn a share. That is more nearly the situation antitrust law was meant to remedy. Blumenthal should devote some effort into investigating what the P5 are up to.

 

[auggie22]

Was wondering if this was perhaps a tricky dick attempt at using the politically palatable opportunity of NFL reform as a stalking horse for college reform. If you string replace the pro leagues in his quotes with the individual college sports, his rhetoric would still make sense.

 

[Fishy]

Oh, f---.

If you think this is anything important, you haven't paid attention to Blumenthal's career.

This is a photo op for buckethead, nothing more.

 

[Sea Goat]

Oh, f---.

If you think this is anything important, you haven't paid attention to Blumenthal's career.

This is a photo op for buckethead, nothing more.

Bravo! Besides, the best way to kill any idea is to have Blumenthal promote it.