I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 590

To amend the Act of September 30, 1961, to limit the antitrust exemption

applicable to broadcasting agreements made by leagues of professional

sports, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 5, 1997

Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. FARR of California, and

Mr. TRAFICANT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Act of September 30, 1961, to limit the

antitrust exemption applicable to broadcasting agreements made by leagues of professional sports, and for

other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Give Fans a Chance

5 Act of 1997’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO ANTITRUST EXEMPTION.

2 The Act of September 30, 1961 (Public Law 87–331;

3 15 U.S.C. 1291 et seq.), is amended by adding at the end

4 the following:

5 ‘‘SEC. 7. CONDITIONAL APPLICATION OF ACT.

6 ‘‘(a) INAPPLICABILITY.—This Act shall not apply to

7 a league of clubs of a professional sport for any period

8 during which any member club of such league is—

9 ‘‘(1) subject to such league’s requirement, or to

10 an agreement made by 2 or more member clubs of

11 such league, that forbids any of such clubs to trans12 fer (by sale or otherwise) an ownership interest of

13 any kind in such club to any governmental entity or

14 to members of the general public; or

15 ‘‘(2) not in compliance with subsection (b) or

16 (c).

17 ‘‘(b) NOTICE OF PROPOSED CHANGE IN COMMUNITY;

18 OPPORTUNITIES TO RESPOND TO PROPOSED RELOCA19 TION.—

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A member club that pro21 poses to relocate, or a league that proposes to relo22 cate a member club, out of a community in the home

23 territory of the member club shall furnish notice of

24 such proposed relocation not later than 180 days be25 fore the commencement of the season in which the
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1 club is to play home games in the proposed new lo2 cation.

3 ‘‘(2) PERSONS ENTITLED TO RECEIVE NO4 TICE.—The notice required by paragraph (1) shall

5 be furnished to all interested persons.

6 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—The notice shall—

7 ‘‘(A) be in writing and delivered in person

8 or by certified mail;

9 ‘‘(B) be made available to the news media;

10 ‘‘(C) be published in 1 or more newspapers

11 of general circulation within the club’s home

12 community; and

13 ‘‘(D) contain—

14 ‘‘(i) an identification of the proposed

15 new home community of such club;

16 ‘‘(ii) a summary of the reasons for the

17 proposed relocation based on the criteria

18 listed in subsection (c); and

19 ‘‘(iii) the date on which the proposed

20 relocation would become effective.

21 ‘‘(4) OPPORTUNITY TO OFFER TO PURCHASE.—

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—During the 180-day

23 notice period specified in paragraph (1), a local

24 government, stadium, arena authority, person,

25 or any combination thereof, may prepare and
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1 present a proposal to purchase the club to re2 tain the club in the home community.

3 ‘‘(B) MEMBERSHIP IN LEAGUE.—If a bid

4 under subparagraph (A) is successful, the

5 league of which the club is a member shall not

6 prohibit the club’s membership in the league on

7 the basis that the club is owned in whole or in

8 part by several persons or entities, or by 1 or

9 more local governments.

10 ‘‘(5) OPPORTUNITY TO INDUCE CLUB TO

11 STAY.—During the 180-day notice period specified

12 in paragraph (1), the club (and the league of which

13 the club is a member) shall give a local government,

14 stadium authority, person, or any combination there15 of, the opportunity to prepare and present a pro16 posal to induce the club to remain in its home com17 munity.

18 ‘‘(6) RESPONSE.—The response of the owner of

19 the club to any offer made under paragraph (4) or

20 (5) shall—

21 ‘‘(A) be in writing and delivered in person

22 or by certified mail; and

23 ‘‘(B) state in detail the reasons for refusal

24 of any bona fide offer.

25 ‘‘(7) DETERMINATION BY LEAGUE.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The league of which

2 the club is a member shall make a determina3 tion, before the expiration of the 180-day notice

4 period specified in paragraph (1), with respect

5 to the relocation of club out of its home com6 munity .

7 ‘‘(B) HEARINGS.—In making a determina8 tion under this paragraph, the league shall con9 duct a hearing at which interested persons are

10 afforded an opportunity to present oral or writ11 ten testimony regarding the proposed relocation

12 of the club. The league shall keep a record of

13 all such proceedings.

14 ‘‘(C) CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSALS.—

15 The league shall take into account any induce16 ment proposal that is offered under paragraph

17 (5).

18 ‘‘(8) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining wheth19 er to approve or disapprove the relocation of the

20 club, the league shall take into consideration the cri21 teria listed in subsection (c).

22 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR RELOCATION DECISIONS.—Not23 withstanding any other law, before making a decision to

24 approve or disapprove the relocation of a club out of its
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1 home community, the league of which such club is a mem2 ber shall take into consideration—

3 ‘‘(1) the extent to which fan loyalty to and sup4 port for the club has been demonstrated during the

5 club’s operation in such community;

6 ‘‘(2) the degree to which the club has engaged

7 in good faith negotiations with appropriate persons

8 concerning terms and conditions under which the

9 club would continue to play home games in such

10 community or elsewhere within the club’s home ter11 ritory;

12 ‘‘(3) the degree to which the ownership or man13 agement of the club has contributed to any cir14 cumstances that might demonstrate the need for the

15 relocation;

16 ‘‘(4) the extent to which the club, directly or in17 directly, received public financial support by means

18 of any publicly financed playing facility, special tax

19 treatment, or any other form of public financial sup20 port;

21 ‘‘(5) the adequacy of the stadium in which the

22 club played its home games in the previous season,

23 and the willingness of the stadium, arena authority,

24 or local government to remedy any deficiencies in

25 the facility;
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1 ‘‘(6) whether the club has incurred net operat2 ing losses, exclusive of depreciation and amortiza3 tion, sufficient to threaten the continued financial vi4 ability of the club;

5 ‘‘(7) whether any other club in the league is lo6 cated in the same home community;

7 ‘‘(8) whether the club proposes to relocate to a

8 community that is the home community of another

9 member club of the league;

10 ‘‘(9) whether the stadium authority, if public, is

11 opposed to the proposed relocation; and

12 ‘‘(10) whether there is a bona fide investor of13 fering fair market value for the club and seeking to

14 retain the club in such community.’’.

15 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

16 This Act and the amendment made by this Act shall

17 take effect on the first day of the first month beginning

18 more than 180 days after the date of the enactment of

19 this Act.

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