Monopoly - Brian

Many of you may not have heard of the Supreme Court case of the NFL vs. American Needle. But it may prove to be one of the most pivotal cases is sports history. Here is the simple breakdown of the case:

As some of you know, Reebok is the exclusive apparel of the NFL. They are the only company that can produce NFL licensed products. It wasn't always that way. Back in the late 90's you had numerous companies (including Nike, Champs, and American Needle) producing NFL products for different teams. In 2001 the NFL signed an exclusive deal with Reebok that cut every other business out of the NFL merchandise market. American Needle sued the NFL for creating a monopoly and controlling the market for NFL apparel.

That is the quick summary of the case. The NFL is defending itself in say that the league is not 32 different teams, but that it is one large company. If the Supreme Court rules that the NFL is in fact just one company, it cannot be considered a monopoly.

Why does this case matter to the average fan? If the NFL is found to be just one large company, it will be able to control everything in the NFL. This means it could create standardized prices for tickets to all NFL games. So if you are going to go see a bad team like the Lions, you will have to pay the same price as if you were going to see perennial contenders like Indy or New England. Doesn't seem very fair, does it? Back in the 90's you could buy a jersey for $80 because of the competition between companies. Now you would be lucky to find one for under $200. That's how it will be throughout the rest of the league prices.

One other pitfall: The owners of each team, acting as one large company, could set contract prices for each player. That means that the owners can decide that Player X would be considered worth $800,000 per year, no matter what team he played for. This eliminates the competitive market for players to negotiate with teams.

Think this would be a problem? I do.