I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3344 

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 

NOVEMBER 3, 2011 

Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself and Ms. HAHN) 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 2011’’. 


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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 OR ELIMINATION.— 

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

23 in the home territory of the member club shall fur24 nish notice of such proposed relocation or elimi25 nation not later than 180 days before the commenceVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:53 Nov 08, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3344.IH H3344

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1 ment of the season in which the club is to play home 

2 games in the proposed new location. 

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 if appli16 cable; 

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

18 proposed relocation or elimination based on 

19 the criteria listed in subsection (c); and 

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

21 relocation or elimination would become ef22 fective. 

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

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

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


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1 government, stadium, arena authority, person, 

2 or any combination thereof, may prepare and 

3 present a proposal to purchase the club to re4 tain the club in the home community. 

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

6 under subparagraph (A) is successful, the 

7 league of which the club is a member shall not 

8 prohibit the club’s membership in the league on 

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

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

11 more local governments. 

12 ‘‘(5) OPPORTUNITY TO INDUCE CLUB TO

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

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

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

16 stadium authority, person, or any combination there17 of, the opportunity to prepare and present a pro18 posal to induce the club to remain in its home com19 munity. 

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

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

22 (5) shall— 

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

24 or by certified mail; and 


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

2 of any bona fide offer. 

3 ‘‘(7) DETERMINATION BY LEAGUE.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The league of which 

5 the club is a member shall make a determina6 tion, before the expiration of the 180-day notice 

7 period specified in paragraph (1), with respect 

8 to the relocation or elimination of the club out 

9 of its home community. 

10 ‘‘(B) HEARINGS.—In making a determina11 tion under this paragraph, the league shall con12 duct a hearing at which interested persons are 

13 afforded an opportunity to present oral or writ14 ten testimony regarding the proposed relocation 

15 or elimination of the club. The league shall keep 

16 a record of all such proceedings. 

17 ‘‘(C) CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSALS.— 

18 The league shall take into account any induce19 ment proposal that is offered under paragraph 

20 (5). 

21 ‘‘(8) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining wheth22 er to approve or disapprove the relocation or elimi23 nation of the club, the league shall take into consid24 eration the criteria listed in subsection (c). 


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1 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR RELOCATION OR ELIMINATION

2 DECISIONS.—Notwithstanding any other law, before mak3 ing a decision to approve or disapprove the relocation or 

4 elimination of a club out of its home community, the 

5 league of which such club is a member shall take into con6 sideration— 

7 ‘‘(1) the extent to which fan loyalty to and sup8 port for the club has been demonstrated during the 

9 club’s operation in such community; 

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

11 in good faith negotiations with appropriate persons 

12 concerning terms and conditions under which the 

13 club would continue to play home games in such 

14 community or elsewhere within the club’s home ter15 ritory; 

16 ‘‘(3) the degree to which the ownership or man17 agement of the club has contributed to any cir18 cumstances that might demonstrate the need for the 

19 relocation or elimination; 

20 ‘‘(4) the extent to which the club, directly or in21 directly, received public financial support by means 

22 of any publicly financed playing facility, special tax 

23 treatment, or any other form of public financial sup24 port; 


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

2 club played its home games in the previous season, 

3 and the willingness of the stadium, arena authority, 

4 or local government to remedy any deficiencies in 

5 the facility; 

6 ‘‘(6) whether the club has incurred net oper7 ating losses, exclusive of depreciation and amortiza8 tion, sufficient to threaten the continued financial vi9 ability of the club; 

10 ‘‘(7) whether any other club in the league is lo11 cated in the same home community; 

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

13 community that is the home community of another 

14 member club of the league; 

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

16 opposed to the proposed relocation or elimination; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(10) whether there is a bona fide investor of19 fering fair market value for the club and seeking to 

20 retain the club in such community.’’. 

21 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

22 This Act and the amendment made by this Act shall 

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


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

2 this Act. 

Æ 


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