Hrm, put me in the category of your first sentence, then. I thought they had protection above and beyond the other leagues in a significant fashion.
They do. The point is that, even if that's stripped away, they still have a significant degree of protection from antitrust laws.
MLB can collude to depress the salaries of minor league players and those players aren’t subject to normal workplace protections. And they aren’t in a union that collectively bargains.
Yes, and that's a huge part of the additional immunity conferred by the baseball-specific cases. The distinction is why the NBA has not fought to prevent the D-League (whatever its corporate sponsor wants it called, it's the D-League) players from unionizing.
