Author Topic: Mets are buying the Chiefs  (Read 30925 times)

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Offline Elvir Ovcina

  • Posts: 5542
Re: Mets are buying the Chiefs
« Reply #50: October 10, 2017, 05:04:07 PM »
Look at what happened when Angelos threatened to litigate the move to DC- baseball caved so fast to avoid the possibility of discovery let alone a judge getting the chance to weigh in that the Nats have no real territory and no independent tv rights. It would be in the Learners interest to avoid challenging the status quo, but it's also in baseball's best interest to avoid the challenge and risking it over a aaa location is not something baseball would do (of course Lerner isn't angelos)

Baseball caved because there was an easy way for the league and Angelos to both make a ton of money without disrupting the cartel instead of having one cartel member get screwed (under its warped logic) while the other 29 benefitted. That's how cartels work - they divide the spoils that result from market power. 

And an additional lawsuit about minor league baseball violating antitrust laws would be of essentially zero risk to MLB at present - the application of the antitrust exemption to the minor leagues was just reviewed and upheld 4 months ago by the Ninth Circuit, and the plaintiffs (who lost at the district court as well) have now filed a petition for cert.  So the issue is already before the Supreme Court if they are at all inclined to consider it.  If they don't, MLB has a gold-plated hammer to wield against anyone seeking to challenge the exemption as it applies to the minors.