Is This the Bottom of the Ninth for Baseball's Antitrust Exemption - A Proposed Removal of the Exemption and Analysis of Player Restraints in an Exemption-Free Environment

This note will describe the creation and development of the antitrust exemption granted to Major League Baseball and the continuing vitality of that exemption with respect to labor relations. Part I will detail the creation of the antitrust exemption, the tests articulated by the Supreme Court to determine whether a particular industry violates the antitrust laws, an application of those tests to baseball, and the possibility of finally removing this exemption through legislation in order to bring the law for the industry of baseball into line with other industries. Part II will discuss how the antitrust laws and labor laws clash with one another and what effects a removal of the exemption would have on the negotiations and future collective bargaining agreements between the owners and players. The discussion will proceed by examining professional basketball and football and their labor disputes, court decisions concerning their activities, and what these decisions mean to baseball. This note will not propose a way to settle the current dispute or to prevent future disputes, but analyze the rights of the two concerned parties and how the courts will likely treat the situation.