I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3288
To amend the Clayton Act to make the antitrust laws applicable to the
elimination or relocation of major league baseball franchises.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 14, 2001
Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. SABO, Mr. MORAN of Vir-
ginia, Mr. POMEROY, Ms. LEE, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. PETERSON of Min-
nesota, Mr. LUTHER, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, Mr.
GUTKNECHT, and Mrs. MEEK of Florida) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend the Clayton Act to make the antitrust laws appli-
cable to the elimination or relocation of major league
baseball franchises.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness in Antitrust
in National Sports (FANS) Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
It is the purpose of this Act to state that the elimi-
nation or relocation of major league baseball franchises
are covered under the antitrust laws, and to make clear
that the enactment of this Act does not change the appli-
cation of the antitrust laws in any other context or with
respect to any other person or entity.
SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF THE ANTITRUST LAWS TO PRO-
FESSIONAL MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.
The Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 12 et seq.) is
amended—
(1) by redesignating section 27, as added by the
Curt Flood Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–297), as
section 28, and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 29. (a) Subject to subsections (b) through (d),
the conduct, acts, practices, or agreements of persons in
the business of organized professional major league base-
ball directly relating to or affecting the elimination or relo-
cation of a major league baseball franchise are subject to
the antitrust laws to the same extent such conduct, acts,
practices, or agreements would be subject to the antitrust
laws if engaged in by persons in any other professional
sports business affecting interstate commerce.
‘‘(b) No court shall rely on the enactment of this sec-
tion as a basis for changing the application of the anti-
trust laws to any conduct, acts, practices, or agreements
other than those set forth in subsection (a). This section
does not create, permit, or imply a cause of action by
which to challenge under the antitrust laws, or otherwise
apply the antitrust laws to, any conduct, acts, practices,
or agreements that do not directly relate to or affect the
elimination or relocation of a major league baseball fran-
chise, including but not limited to—
‘‘(1) the agreement between organized profes-
sional major league baseball teams and the teams of
the National Association of Professional Baseball
Leagues, commonly known as the ‘Professional
Baseball Agreement’, the relationship between orga-
nized professional major league baseball and orga-
nized professional minor league baseball, or any
other matter relating to organized professional base-
ball’s minor leagues;
‘‘(2) any conduct, act, practice, or agreement of
a person engaging in, conducting, or participating in
the business of organized professional baseball relat-
ing to or affecting the relationship between the Of-
fice of the Commissioner and franchise owners, the
marketing or sales of the entertainment product of
organized professional baseball, and the licensing of
intellectual property rights owned or held by orga-
nized professional baseball teams individually or col-
lectively;
‘‘(3) any conduct, act, practice, or agreement
protected by Public Law 87–331 (15 U.S.C. Sec.
1291 et seq.) (commonly known as the ‘Sports
Broadcasting Act of 1961’); and
‘‘(4) any conduct, act, practice, or agreement of
a person not in the business of organized profes-
sional major league baseball.
‘‘(c) Any person (including any major league or minor
league baseball player, any Federal, State, or local govern-
ment, and any stadium authority) injured by a violation
of subsection (a), shall have standing to bring action
under such subsection based on such violation.
‘‘(d)(1) As used in this section—
‘‘(A) the term ‘person’ means any entity, in-
cluding an individual, partnership, corporation,
trust, or unincorporated association, or any com-
bination or association thereof, and
‘‘(B) the National Association of Professional
Baseball Leagues, its member leagues, and the clubs
of any of such leagues, shall not be considered to be
‘in the business of organized professional major
league baseball’.