Supreme Court Picks Out 32 Teams from One League

The league is not one seamless whole, as the NFL asked the U. S. Supreme Court to decide. The truth is the hat sales are like the game, competitive.

True NFL Apparel Competition

The 32 NFL teams set themselves apart with their name, colors, and logo. Not one retreats from competition to sell an NFL brand hat. The goods have their own local name. Any day the teams can disagree, as long as at the end of the week, one neat marketing operation still stands.

No Single Firm Decision on Properties

Decisions on hat sales belong to the teams that decided the National Football League Properties (NFLP) exclusive license with Reebok International Ltd. to sell NFL hats. American Needle lost their share of the sales when 32 decisions on approval were made.

NFLP was founded in 1963 by the teams to come up with hats and jerseys to market them to fans. That is 32 unique sets. Still, after the December 2000 decision to give exclusive licenses, decisionmaking by the many counted powers is firm set.

Agreement drives the decisions, not obligation to the NFLP. The NFL can not take away team authority on properties.

Opportunity for Joint Enterprise

When it comes to marketing the football game league and making money for the teams survival, the 32 are all in one basket. Justice Stevens said, on May 24, 2010, the teams do engage in "concerted action" to sell apparel. That concerted action puts the NFL, with its properties organization and teams, under the authority of Sec. 1 in the Sherman Antitrust Act. The cooperative marketing arrangement holds the football houses together for joint enterprise, good profits for each and all.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell avoided any conclusion on what the federal district court in Chicago will decide, now that the case comes back. He stll affirms the league's marketing activities are lawful. On May 25, at a League Meeting in Dallas Texas, he said, "We make collective decisions that are in the best interest of the 32 teams."

President of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), Kevin Mawae of the Tennessee Titans, lined up in support of the decision, asking players to stay rooted in their position against NFL antitrust law avoidance. On the 25th, he said, "This decision validates the wins of former players like Bill Radovich, Reggie White, Freeman McNeil and other former NFL Players who had successfully sued the NFL for players' rights such as free agency and fair compensation."

Great Hat Deals or One Head Shade?

The NFL community wants great hat deals. The decision to give an exclusive license to Reebok might, in fact, leave fans with only one hat, but the sport remains one made up of 32 teams, each not owing the NFLP any apparel decisions. Common action is a necessity for selling hats. Joint enterprise bars no competition. Opportunity is not a condition for restraint of trade.

Sources:

American Needle v. NFL, No. 08-661. (May 24, 2010)
NFLPA Welcomes Supreme Court Decision Against the NFL (May 24, 2010)
NFL statement on today's American Needle decision: (May 24, 2010)

If you want to read more about NFL football, read When Will the West Coast Defense Have Game? and A West Coast NFL Team Needs Time to Go the Distance