Seventh-Inning Stretch · The Paper Chase
The Bay Area Team That Almost Left
Piazza v. Major League Baseball (1993)
Charge: Sherman Act antitrust and defamation - investors claim baseball blocked their purchase and move of a big-league club (suit against the league)Court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of PennsylvaniaDocket: The Paper Chase
Does baseball's antitrust exemption protect the league when it blocks investors from buying a club and moving it to another city?
The facts
In 1992 a group of investors reached an agreement in principle to buy a San Francisco big-league club and move it to a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida. The league's owners voted 9-4 to keep the team where it was, and it went to a lower-priced local bid. An ownership official publicly questioned some investors' backgrounds, citing a security check, then later admitted there was no problem with it. The investors sued for antitrust and defamation claims. Baseball moved to dismiss, relying on its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust law.
You have the facts the court had. Guilty or not guilty? Call it in the game with your friends, then see what the court actually decided. Wrong call, you drink.
Citation: Piazza v. Major League Baseball, 831 F. Supp. 420 (E.D. Pa. 1993)
Read more at ir.law.fsu.edu. The source reveals the outcome.