NFL Beats Renewed Raiders Antitrust Claims

The National Football League (NFL) and its teams won’t face renewed antitrust claims over the relocation of the Raiders to Las Vegas after the Northern District of California court found the city of Oakland didn’t show an antitrust injury.

“Whatever harm may result from allowing teams to relocate to the city with the highest bid is not harm redressable under the antitrust laws,” the US District Court for the Northern District of California stated Thursday, April 30, reported Bloomberg Law. 

Oakland filed suit in December, alleging the NFL and Raiders violated antitrust laws by approving the move to Las Vegas, and claimed doing so amounted to a group boycott of Oakland. Outside attorneys have taken the city’s case on a contingency basis, meaning it comes at no cost to the city. The city also alleged in its suit that the Raiders violated the League’s relocation policy by not seriously negotiating with Oakland and Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott’s group, which proposed to help finance a new stadium at the Coliseum.

But attorneys for the Raiders and NFL wrote that the competition between Las Vegas and Oakland was not a violation of antitrust laws, which are designed to promote competition and prohibit monopolies. The city did not suffer antitrust injury, the attorneys said, but rather “the injury flows from an increase in competition” and “another community’s willingness to make an offer better than Oakland’s.”

Full Content: Bloomberg

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