The Supreme Court Considers Whether the NFL is a "Single Entity" and thus Immune from Antitrust Scrutiny
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League, et al., No. 08-661, in which the Court is expected to address whether professional sports teams belonging to the same league can act in a coordinated fashion without being subject to antitrust scrutiny under the “Rule of Reason” analysis commonly employed to assess joint ventures under Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Specifically, the case presents the question of whether, for purposes of the Sherman Act, the individual teams of the National Football League (“NFL”) collectively constitute a “single entity”—as opposed to a collection of competitors—when they jointly license their respective intellectual property. Although American Needle focuses on the NFL’s licensing arrangements, the decision could have implications for many other types of joint ventures.