(10-12-2021, 02:38 PM)D6 Wrote:

(10-12-2021, 01:54 PM)Bullseye Wrote: You could have made that point quite effectively without mentioning or referencing Judeo -Christian values, etc. at all, just as Gruden could have expressed dissatisfaction with DeMaurice Smith without reference to stereotypes or real/perceived immutable racial characteristics.

Lots of problems are created by those gratuitous insertions of race and religion, especially in forums where such talk is supposed to be prohibited.

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I am no fan of Goodell, but I have to defend him on point three.

The league has been on the wrong side of antitrust law long before Goodell became commissioner.  Dating back to the Rozelle years, the courts have consisently ruled against the league in  relocation cases.  Not too much Goodell can do from a legal perspective if a owner decides to move a team.

At the very least, I think the NFL could have made it much more difficult for Stan Kroenke to move the Rams from St. Louis to Los Angeles. Instead, they cleared the path for him, with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones a prime catalyst.

I'm hoping the St.Louis Lawsuit against the NFL goes to trial.  I think the NFL knows that there's a good chance that the court will rule in favor of St.Louis, with a massive awarding of damages.

That's the point.

 Without this becoming a legal brief or memorandum of law, in short, making it more difficult to move would likely fail antitrust scrutiny as "unreasonable restraint of trade."

The league and the players association can get around antitrust scrutiny because they collectively bargain for terms and conditions that are anti competitive (i.e. the NFL draft). 

But the owners don't bargain with themselves to that degree.  The courts don't view the NFL as a single entity in terms of antitrust law.  The courts view the NFL as 32 separate entities in that area of the law.  As a single entity, there could be no collusion.  As 32 entities, these businesses can collude to anti competitive effect such that it violates antitrust law.

It's been a while since I read the caselaw, the courts in the various litigation in the 1980s involving Al Davis vs the NFL regarding the relocation of the Raiders, the court came up with a seemingly counterintuitive argument supporting the idea that the NFL is not a single entity.  I do not have the energy at the moment to detail it here.

But the bottom line is the courts have tied the NFLs hands when it comes to franchise relocation, which is why they haven't stopped any of them.  For all of his faults, Goodell is not to blame for that.

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