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However, more contemporary analysis would stress that MLB teams travel across state lines and that equipment, broadcasts, Internet streams and other game-related business routinely cross states.

That style of reasoning was consistent with the court’s strict conception of interstate commerce in the early 20th century. Games are only played in one state, which led the court to conclude that interstate activity was not present. National League that MLB is not subject to federal antitrust law because federal antitrust claims require interstate commerce. Supreme Court held in Federal Baseball Club v. For nearly 100 years, MLB has enjoyed an exemption from federal antitrust law. The complaint concedes the teams can only prevail if a longstanding understanding of the law is reinterpreted.

The complaint argues that MLB severed ties with clubs “without regard to competitive merit,” instead valuing whether clubs “were already owned by MLB clubs” or “otherwise served MLB interests.” To illustrate, the Asheville Tourists, an Astros Single-A affiliate, were spared because-as the complaint tells it-they’re owned by a powerful political figure, Ohio Gov.

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In a complaint authored by David Lender, a partner at Weil Gotshal who has successfully litigated on behalf of ESPN and other companies, the teams blast MLB’s reorganization as “nothing less than a naked, horizontal agreement to cement MLB’s dominance over all professional baseball.” Berg & Androphy’s James Quinn, who successfully represented NFL players in litigating for free agency in the 1990s, is also counsel. The newest lawsuit asserts that MLB and its 30 teams unlawfully conspired to “boycott” teams they stripped of affiliations.

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