CT and NY AGs ask Supreme Court to remove Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and his New York counterpart Letitia James are working with a bipartisan coalition of 18 attorneys general urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the baseball antitrust exemption.

The case, Tri-City ValleyCats, Inc. and Oneonta Athletic Corporation v. The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, is predicated on a 2020 agreement among 30 Major League Baseball teams to reduce the number of affiliated minor league teams from 160 to 120. As a result, teams in 23 states – including Connecticut’s Norwich Sea Unicorns and the New York-based Auburn Doubledays, Batavia Muckdogs, Staten Island Yankees, and Tri-City ValleyCats – were dropped, which the attorneys general has created economic harm to the players on the teams the communities where they are based.

“Baseball is big business,” said Tong, who is leading the coalition. “There’s no rational reason why baseball – above any other sport, or any other business – should be insulated from federal and state antitrust enforcement. The Norwich Sea Unicorns deserve the same, fair shot at recruiting talent and Major League support as any other team. It’s time to reconsider and overturn the antiquated and unfair baseball antitrust exemption.”.

“Baseball may be ‘America’s Pastime,’ but it should also have to play by America’s laws that govern monopolies,” added Attorney General James. “Minor league clubs are part of the fabric of hundreds of communities throughout the nation that don’t have nearby access to a Major League Baseball stadium. By calling these clubs out of the system, Major League Baseball is punishing the fans and local communities. I am proud to stand with this bipartisan coalition of attorneys general to protect these minor league teams, and to empower millions of Americans to head out to the local ballgame.”

Photo courtesy Norwich Sea Unicorns