Briefs

• The NFL's brief.
• The American Needle petition.
• The NHL's amicus brief.
• The NBA's amicus brief. Helpfully points out that declaring professional sports leagues "single entities" would "permit early resolution of burdensome antitrust litigation"!. LOL! It would also enhance monopoly rent extraction.
• Amicus Curiae brief by a group of economists. Rebuts many claims in the NFL brief.
• Amicus Curiae brief by a second group of economists. Favors the NFL's case for the limited case of NFL Properties Inc. and licensed merchandise.
• Amicus Curiae brief by the ATP Tour, WTA Tour, MLS, and NASCAR.
• Amicus Curiae brief by the Visa and MasterCard.
• Amicus Curiae brief by the video game maker Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Amicus Curiae brief by VF Imagewear, Inc.

• Supreme Court of the United States wiki page on the American Needle v. NFL case.
• United States amicus filing from both the DoJ Antitrust division and FTC. Recommends that the Supreme Court not hear the case.
• US Supreme Court case summary.
• Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals opinion on the case.
• Paper by Vermont Law School professor Michael McCann on American Needle v. NFL forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal. Excellent background reading.
• Article on the case by John O. Gunderson in the Seventh Circuit Review.
• Article by Marc Edelman in the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal arguing that the NFL is not a "single entity."
• July 2009 ESPN story by lester Munson summarizing the case and discussing its implications. The article is over the top, but gets the facts right.
• Sports Business Daily article. Raises the issue that the ESPN article above blows the implications of the case out of proportion.
• Forbes magazine preview of business-related cases before the Supreme Court this term. "The league (NFL) has long been envious of a blanket antitrust exemption granted by an earlier Supreme Court case to Major League Baseball and wants similar protection."

• SCOTUS blog post.
• Sports Judge Blog post .
• Antitrust and Competition Policy Blog post .
• Legal Theory Blog post .
• Biz of Baseball blog post.
• Sports Law blog post .
• The Sporting Blog post.

Australian sports economist Robert Macdonald points out that a similar case was heard in Australia in the mid 1990s. The Australian case was based on a rival league competition in Rugby League. The Australian approach to sports leagues and antitrust differs from the North American approach, and provides an interesting contrast. Macdonald points out that this case focused on market definition, and not firm behavior. The two cases approach a similar question from different angles. Below are several links to the Australian case:

• Initial decision by the judge in News Limited v Australian Rugby Football League Limited.
• appeal to the Federal Court of Australia.
• Official report from News Limited v Australian Rugby Football League Limited trial.
• Official report from News Limited v Australian Rugby Football League Limited appeal.