US: DOJ supports the NFL in Oakland’s antitrust suit

The Justice Department is asking a federal court in California to dismiss Oakland, California’s antitrust lawsuit against the Oakland Raiders and the National Football League (NFL), arguing that the city lacks standing.

The city charged that the Raiders, which will move to Las Vegas in 2020, violated federal antitrust law when the team broke their contract. Oakland is seeking to recover tax revenues from the team that would be lost after the move.

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 alleges 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.”