On Higher Ground?: Baseball’s Antitrust Exemption

NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Commercial and Federal Litigation Section, Spring Meeting, The Otesaga Cooperstown, NY May 13 - 15, 2016 Presentation: On Higher Ground?: Baseball’s Antitrust Exemption The panel will consider the history, expansion, and endurance of the antitrust exemption for baseball, including discussing decisions calling the exemption into question in light of the doctrinal expansion of Congressional authority under the Constitutional Commerce Clause and the increasingly business-like nature of baseball; recent decisions relating to the baseball exemption; the Supreme Court’s deference to Congress on whether the antitrust exemption should still be applied; efforts in Congress itself to consider possible legislation; whether treating Major League Baseball differently from the NFL, NBA, and other professional sports leagues is appropriate; and the tension between the Supreme Court’s commitment to stare decisis and the Court’s acknowledgement that the antitrust exemption is “inconsistent” and “illogical.” Moderator: Jay L. Himes, Esq., Labaton Sucharow LLP, New York City Panelists: Hon. Rosemary S. Pooler, Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Syracuse, NY Seth Bloom, Esq., Bloom Strategic Counsel PLLC, Washington, D.C. Edward Diver, Esq., Langer, Grogan & Diver P.C., Philadelphia, PA Ed Edmonds, Associate Dean, Notre Dame Law School, Notre Dame, IN Professor Michael Salinger, Professor of Management and of Economics, Boston University, Boston, MA