As part of the NFL’s ongoing legal battle with former cap vendor American Needle, the league decided to make a claim that it had a “single entity” structure which allowed it to make unified business decisions of all kinds, not just branding. In a 9-0 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the claim, which if granted would have put the NFL closer to the antitrust exemption that MLB enjoys.
Soon-to-retire Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion, which included the following gems:
“Although NFL teams have common interests such as promoting the NFL brand, they are still separate, profit-maximizing entities, and their interests in licensing team trademarks are not necessarily aligned.”
“Although two teams are needed to play a football game, not all aspects of elaborate interleague cooperation are necessary to produce a game.”
The NFL Players Association, which has been seeking any kind of leverage in its difficult negotiations with the league, thinks it found some in the decision.
“The Court’s decision affirms our belief that the NFL should not be allowed to operate as a monopoly to the detriment of fans, players and the government. In a country where competition and fair play are so highly-valued, the Court wisely declined to give the NFL a leg up by usurping the role of Congress and ignoring both the letter and the spirit of its anti-trust laws.”
Obviously, the league disagrees. In any case, I don’t expect the situation to get much less contentious, even though some observers think that the decision could get the two parties back to the table more quickly. The NFL just did this as a tactic, whereas the actual debate between league and union are about major dollars-and-cents issues, several of which have the two sides miles apart (revenue sharing formula, first round draft pick salaries). As for American Needle? The case now goes back down to the lower courts.
More on the case and issues can be found at SCOTUSWiki, Forbes’ SportsMoney blog, the National Football Post, and the Wall Street Journal.
newballpark.org 
Slightly off-topic, but still CBA related…Your posts on different financial structures of the four major North American sports leagues are some of my favorites, ML.
I remember hearing for years that baseball needed a salary cap to remain healthy and competitive. Ironically, baseball’s status as the only league that doesn’t mandate that a particular percentage of revenues goes to the players looks REALLY smart right now. I think that it will ultimately keep the league stronger during a recession than the NBA could possibly be given the NBA’s financial structure, and I think it will mean the MLB will gain some ground on or surpass the NFL as well.
When things get lean for MLB owners (especially in their outside business ventures), they have the flexibility from year to year to simply give the players a smaller piece of the pie. Sucks for the players, sure, but it keeps those franchise values up and makes MLB ownership perpectually attractive.
I am absolutely fascinated to see what happens in the next MLB, NBA, and NFL collective bargaining agreements. Most exciting issue in sports today for me.
The next three years will have some huge impacts on our lives as sports fans.