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2021-04-04 Home Front: Politix
GOP Senators Propose Revoking MLB's Antitrust Status
[NATIONALREVIEW] Republican politicians, including Senators Ted Cruz;
...US Senator from Texas. Republican contender for president in 2016, his stiff and abrasive manner earned him the title most hated man in the Senate. After a close win over Beto O'Rourke, who tried to out-Lastino him, he grew a beard and let his biting wit shine through. Cruz's comments have been known to leave life-threatening wounds at better than forty feet...
 (Texas) and Mike Lee (Utah) have called for an end to Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption after the league announced it would pull the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta.The league’s decision came in response to a Georgia voting law that critics claim makes it more difficult for individuals, particularly black voters, to exercise their constitutional right to vote.

However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
 proponents of the law deny accusations that it aims to suppress votes, pointing out that the legislation does not place new limits on voting hours and makes the state’s elections more secure without restricting voter access. It even expands weekend early voting.

Representative Jeff Duncan (R., S.C.) said Friday that he had instructed his staff to begin drafting legislation to rescind the league’s decades-old antitrust exemption, "In light of @MLB’s stance to undermine election integrity laws."

"An overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans support requiring an ID to vote, and any organization that abuses its power to oppose secure elections deserves increased scrutiny under the law," he added.
Posted by Fred 2021-04-04 00:00|| || Front Page|| [8 views ]  Top

#1 Its long overdue that this anachonism was taken off the books. MLB and the NFL do not deserve any special law or tax treatment. Take them off the books.

Dems should be on board with this, make the big guys pay their fair share, right?

Posted by These Forkbeard7574 2021-04-04 01:20||   2021-04-04 01:20|| Front Page Top

#2 

Do it now and RAM these axxholes into reality, enlist 'the woke can go broke' attitude, and hit them out of the ballparks. Enough of their 'special status', they do nothing but play a childs game as adults, and not but a few realize nthey have been pampered for CENTURY (1922-2021) with this favored status.

Do it now and do it right !
Posted by Varmint Smith5115 2021-04-04 01:36||   2021-04-04 01:36|| Front Page Top

#3 

Given they want to politically blackmail states into either adhering to their social agenda issues. Which results in allowing various proven forms of Illegal Voting.

I agree, Revoke all tax exemption privileges.
Posted by NN2N1 2021-04-04 06:45||   2021-04-04 06:45|| Front Page Top

#4 Not sure what implications of antitrust in this case are. Anyone can start their own league, so I'm not sure MLB can be found guilty of violating anti-trust laws. Now if you want to start treating it as a business, subject to all taxes, rules and federal and state nitpicking - go for it.

(full disclosure - I haven't paid attention to bb since Steinbrunner ruined the Yankees)
Posted by Mercutio 2021-04-04 08:45||   2021-04-04 08:45|| Front Page Top

#5 Do this plus work on removing 230 protections for IT oligarchs.
Posted by no mo uro 2021-04-04 09:12||   2021-04-04 09:12|| Front Page Top

#6 George Will wets his pants in 3-2-1...
Posted by M. Murcek 2021-04-04 09:28||   2021-04-04 09:28|| Front Page Top

#7 
#4 Not sure what implications of antitrust in this case are. Anyone can start their own league, so I'm not sure MLB can be found guilty of violating anti-trust laws. Now if you want to start treating it as a business, subject to all taxes, rules and federal and state nitpicking - go for it.

(full disclosure - I haven't paid attention to bb since Steinbrunner ruined the Yankees)
Posted by: Mercutio 2021-04-04 08:45


...As I understand it, the anti-trust exemptions cover (for the most part) what the clubs can and can't pay players. The result is that if the exemptions are lifted, you will have players pretty much demanding what the market will bear - and getting it. And that would lead to (according to at least one article I read the last time this subject came up) to as many as a third of the the MLB teams being priced right out of business, and most of the survivors going on borrowed time. Within about fifteen years, you'd be down to a handful of teams in the biggest TV markets and that's it.

I'd miss my Cleveland (Baseball Team), but that would be about it.

Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2021-04-04 09:28||   2021-04-04 09:28|| Front Page Top

#8 
Posted by Clem 2021-04-04 10:05||   2021-04-04 10:05|| Front Page Top

#9 That exemption has been on the books since 1922...should have been yanked decades ago.
Posted by Clem 2021-04-04 10:07||   2021-04-04 10:07|| Front Page Top

#10 SCOTUS in its 1972 ruling in [Cardinals outfielder Curt] Flood v. Kuhn upheld the 1922 antitrust exemption but admitted that this original decision was an “anomaly.” The Supremes ever since Oliver Wendell Holmes have always deferred to Congress re curbing baseball owners' anti-competitive practices.

Regarding the fallout from the Curt Flood case, it was IIUC an arbitrator's subsequent decision that provided the legal basis for free agency in baseball.

Posted by Tyranysaurus Sinatra9875 2021-04-04 11:05||   2021-04-04 11:05|| Front Page Top

#11  The result is that if the exemptions are lifted, you will have players pretty much demanding what the market will bear - and getting it.

I suspect their agents will all try at once in an effort to get there first, and most of the owners will explain the facts of economics to them, perhaps more picturesquely than their accountants had described the facts to them. We’re in the post-Covid world now — a significant portion of the fans won't be coming back, which means considerably less advertising and television/cable money for the teams, in addition to fewer tickets sold.
Posted by trailing wife 2021-04-04 11:23||   2021-04-04 11:23|| Front Page Top

#12 you will have players pretty much demanding what the market will bear

Oh, the humanity!

I'd be curious to see if teams (especially the so-called "smaller market" teams) close up shop should the antitrust exemption gets deep-sixed, as it should be.

I can remember when there were no divisions, just the AL and the NL. Then, along with expansion, there were two divisions. Still not enough. Then wild cards and three divisions and more expansion. But this is a sport not a business. Uh, o.k.
Posted by Clem 2021-04-04 11:32||   2021-04-04 11:32|| Front Page Top

#13 Propose, propose, propose, but everyone knows they never do anything but pontificate and posture.
Posted by Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 2021-04-04 16:15||   2021-04-04 16:15|| Front Page Top

#14 Agreed. Talke is talk, let's see you walk the walk on an easy one like this. Batter Up, Ted.
Posted by These Forkbeard7574 2021-04-04 19:46||   2021-04-04 19:46|| Front Page Top

#15 We wanna play BASEBALL, Nurse Ratched
Posted by Randle McMurphy  2021-04-04 22:03||   2021-04-04 22:03|| Front Page Top

#16 Foghorn Leghorn loves baseball
Posted by Clem 2021-04-04 22:05||   2021-04-04 22:05|| Front Page Top

#17 C'mon now Einstein ...
Posted by Eohippus Big Foot2212 2021-04-04 22:14||   2021-04-04 22:14|| Front Page Top

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