House Judiciary Committee may seek to overturn NFL’s antitrust exemption

[RashanGary]

There maybe be high quality of life found under other economic situations but chances are - location, population and natural resources could play a large role in the outliers.

[swede]

Iceland has a terrible problem with illegal immigration.

People just want what they've got.

[Tony Oday]

Yeah but we are the only ones that have football!

I would never vote for a congress person that even talks about football in a professional setting.

This argument is REAL easy. There is no union anymore. Tell your players that there will be a season and all their contracts will be honored and open the doors to the guys to come back. Those who think that they are better off playing in the AFL or CFL or a new league then they can do that or they can play in the NFL.

WHAT I WOULD DO if I had the cash would be to start a football league that has 32 teams and tell the players that if they come to this new league they get 70% of the profits and that they can see the books. I would be a billionaire and the NFL would go bankrupt!

[Tarlam!]

I went off the top 10 according to this site

http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top...-life-map.html

I just object to your sweeping statements, as in "All countries etc". When you make such statements, even outliers become a legitimate part of the discussion. I get your point, BTW, though I disagree with it.

[HowardRoark]

Iceland has a terrible problem with illegal immigration.

People just want what they've got.

Iceland has a terrible problem with going bankrupt too, but the really hot women I think add to the quality of life.

[Lurker64]

He's complaining about the federal goverments involvement in this type of labor dispute. My point is, yeah, they should be able to interject because if there was no check and balance, it would be a horrible place to live.

You're not arguing that "congress should involve itself in this matter" you're arguing "conservatives bad, liberals good".

The means of resolving the dispute between the NFL and the NFLPA is already in place, it's called a federal court and we're going there on April 6. Explain why additional intervention is needed, specifically intervention by congress.

Just basic rhetoric, don't try to make a point that's much bigger than you want to make, even if your intended point is correct if you try for a bigger point and miss then you've discredited yourself. And don't start off by concluding all good ideas have come from people who agree with you and all bad ideas have come from those who disagree, that's a 100% accurate indicator that the speaker is a crackpot.

[swede]

I may be wrong, but the NFL is a distortion on the sensor array of American private enterprise. It may only work within the anti-trust exemption, and it may only work within the delicate balance that has evolved over the years.

The owners are attempting to preserve the status quo. I get the feeling that players are being told that they can force an agreement in accordance with the laws of the land that protect them from the collusion of owners. What the fuck is a salary cap if not an agreed upon collusion?

I have a very bad feeling about this. No football for swede this year.

[Tarlam!]

but the really hot women I think add to the quality of life.

I was only there once in my life, 4 days, 17 years ago. My wife was 3 months pregnant at home. I remained faithful, but it was the toughest test the Lord ever made me sit. Amazingly beautiful intelligent blonde women that dig brown haired non-Icelandic boys.

But I was true to my bride.

[HowardRoark]

I went off the top 10 according to this site

http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top...-life-map.html

I clicked the link and could not find any explanation of what makes the quality of life high in these countries....do you know? The only thing that jumped out at me was that all of the counties are pretty lilly white, so I think this link could be racist.

[Lurker64]

I may be wrong, but the NFL is a distortion on the sensor array of American private enterprise. It may only work within the anti-trust exemption, and it may only work within the delicate balance that has evolved over the years.

The owners are attempting to preserve the status quo. I get the feeling that players are being told that they can force an agreement in accordance with the laws of the land that protect them from the collusion of owners. What the fuck is a salary cap if not an agreed upon collusion?

I have a very bad feeling about this. No football for swede this year.

The NFL, as well as other sports leagues, is a weird entity and if you were to tear it down and recreate it from scratch then it would be a very different entity. Many forms of "collusion" exist in the NFL because we recognize that some franchises are at an inherent advantage over other franchises due to geography, the independent wealth of the ownership, etc. and that the game as a product is best served by "colluding" to negate these advantages. This is why we have things like a draft and a salary cap. Without them, Jerry Jones would just sign Cam Newton, Blaine Gabbert, Von Miller, Julius Jones, A.J. Green, Mark Ingram, etc. ad nauseum out of college. The league without things like a salary cap and a draft would be a very bad product compared to what we have currently.

The text of the American Needle v. NFL decision acknowledges this:

The fact that NFL teams share an interest in making the entire league successful and profitable, and that they must cooperate in the production and scheduling of games, provides a perfectly sensible justification for making a host of collective decisions.

Other features of the NFL may also save agreements amongst the teams. We have recognized, for example,’that the interest in maintaining a competitive balance’ among ‘athletic teams is legitimate and important’ . . . . While that same interest applies to the teams in the NFL, it does not justify treating them as a single entity . . . when it comes to the marketing of the teams’ individually owned intellectual property. It is, however, unquestionably an interest that may well justify a variety of collective decisions made by the teams.

Were the NFL organized in 2011, with what we know now, it would literally be a single corporation and "team owners" would just be replaced by sufficiently invested stockholders. In that case, all the stuff they want to do that might be seen as "collusion" in the current system would be blatantly legal.

But the fact that the supreme court issued the above quotes in a decision, means that the NFL may actually have a chance against the NFLPA in an antitrust lawsuit. This is why it's surprising to me that the NFLPA chose litigation over negotiation. Since litigation is inherently uncertain, if the NFL can successfully beat back both an injunction preventing a lockout as well as an antitrust challenge... then the deal the players will have to accept will end up being significantly worse than anything the owners would offer them at the bargaining table.

[Tony Oday]

I clicked the link and could not find any explanation of what makes the quality of life high in these countries....do you know? The only thing that jumped out at me was that all of the counties are pretty lilly white, so I think this link could be racist.

Japan is white?! WTF I must have visited the wrong Tokyo!

[HowardRoark]

Japan is white?! WTF I must have visited the wrong Tokyo!

They no longer have a quality of life.

[Tony Oday]

They no longer have a quality of life.

Touche

[MadScientist]

There's nothing that interstate commerce and "the general welfare" clause can't solve these days for some folks. I suppose if you really believe that Congress forcing its way into a labor dispute in a professional sports league is somehow providing for the common defense and general welfare of the citizens of the United States of America, then you're not going to understand any argument that is any more nuanced than, "you are an idiot."

But I mean that with all due respect someone who believes that our federal government has been granted unlimited authority to do whatever it wants by our Constitution, as long as someone can somehow claim it's in the name of our general welfare and hypothetically has something to do with more than one state.

You are obviously incapable of making an argument more nuanced than, "you are an idiot", so I'll make this simple enough for even you to comprehend:

Congress gave the NFL the anti-trust exemption, so they have the authority to take it away. It is really that simple.

To go on about excessive power and creating dictatorships for considering talking about repealing a law that they passed years ago is beyond stupid.

Now should they be doing this is a different question entirely.

[Tarlam!]

You are obviously incapable of making an argument more nuanced than, "you are an idiot", so I'll make this simple enough for even you to comprehend:

Congress gave the NFL the anti-trust exemption, so they have the authority to take it away. It is really that simple.

To go on about excessive power and creating dictatorships for considering talking about repealing a law that they passed years ago is beyond stupid.

Now should they be doing this is a different question entirely.

Coupla points: Skin is as abrasive a poster as you'll find anywhere, but to suggest he's an idiot by "keeping things simple", well, that's just idiotic. Love him or hate him, he polarizes, but he's one of the most intelligent posters here. As are you Howard, which is sincerely meant. And yes, I hate it when he personally attacks posters, just like I hate it when any of us do.

The other point he makes, with a lot of support from Lurker, BTW, is that Congress will have no chance of changing any of this, nor should they be involved. I am of the same opinion, and that has been formed by Lurker's quoting the Supreme court decision, not my obvious affecction for Skin, whom I've met personally and is one of the nicest people you're ever likely to run into (as opposed to want to run over).