[Infowarrior] - Drew Brees on NFL's Supreme Court case

[Richard Forno]

Saints' quarterback Drew Brees weighs in on NFL's Supreme Court case
By Drew Brees
Sunday, January 10, 2010; B02

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/07/AR2010010702947_pf.html
As the starting quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, I am used to  
competing on the football field, not in a courtroom, and I rarely  
offer a public opinion on complex legal debates. But in a few days,  
the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in American Needle v. NFL,  
a case that could have a profound impact not only on my sport but on  
all of American professional athletics. So even as the playoffs are  
beginning, I feel compelled to venture beyond the gridiron to share my  
thoughts on what is at stake.

The case involves a multimillion-dollar deal struck in 2000 between  
the National Football League and Reebok that grants Reebok the  
exclusive rights to make hats, sweatshirts and other gear with NFL  
team logos. What does that deal have to do with the ability of my  
teammates and me to perform our jobs and entertain football fans  
around the country? Potentially, quite a bit: The gains we fought for  
and won as players over the years could be lost, while the competition  
that runs through all aspects of the sport could be undermined.

American Needle is a small manufacturer of hats located in Buffalo  
Grove, Ill. As a result of the NFL's deal with Reebok, American Needle  
was excluded from the NFL-branded hat market, so it sued the league  
and Reebok. American Needle argued that the licensing deal violated  
antitrust laws because it restricted competition between businesses.  
The nation's antitrust laws constitute a fundamental part of our  
economic system and have protected consumers for more than 100 years,  
providing us with lower prices and fostering innovation.

The NFL originally won the case because the lower courts decided that,  
when it comes to marketing hats and gear, the 32 teams in the league  
act like one big company, a "single entity," and such an entity can't  
illegally conspire with itself to restrain trade. The NFL-Reebok deal  
is worth a lot of money, and fans pay for it: If you want to show  
support for your team by buying an official hat, it now costs $10 more  
than before the exclusive arrangement.

Amazingly, after the NFL won the case, it asked the Supreme Court to  
dramatically expand the ruling and determine that the teams act as a  
single entity not only for marketing hats and gear, but for pretty  
much everything the league does. It was an odd request -- as if I  
asked an official to review an 80-yard pass of mine that had already  
been ruled a touchdown. The notion that the teams function as a single  
entity is absurd; the 32 organizations composing the NFL and the  
business people who run them compete with unrelenting intensity for  
players, coaches and, most of all, the loyalty of fans.

I know of this competition because, along with hundreds of other  
professional football players, I live it every week of the season. I  
also know about it because in 2006, after five years with the San  
Diego Chargers, I became a free agent and witnessed firsthand the  
robust competition among teams for players. Thanks to free agency, I  
had the opportunity to sign a six-year contract with the New Orleans  
Saints, and for the past 3 1/2 years, my wife, Brittany, and I have  
been honored to live in and contribute to the amazingly resilient and  
welcoming community of New Orleans. We've been privileged to journey  
with our neighbors on the long road to recovery from the devastation  
of Hurricane Katrina.

I could choose to sign a contract with the Saints because of a crucial  
player-led antitrust lawsuit in 1993 that secured players' rights to  
sell our services as free agents. Until that case, team owners had  
acted together to control players and keep salaries low, while the  
popularity of the game and teams' revenues grew exponentially. Today,  
if the Supreme Court agrees with the NFL's argument that the teams act  
as a single entity rather than as 32 separate, vigorously competitive  
and extremely profitable entities, the absence of antitrust scrutiny  
would enable the owners to exert total control over this multibillion- 
dollar business.

What might the owners do? They could agree to end or severely restrict  
free agency, continue to enter into exclusive agreements that will  
further raise prices on merchandise, lock coaches into salary scales  
that don't reward them when they're promoted and set higher ticket  
prices (including preventing teams from competing through ticket  
discounts). These and other concerns prompted the NFL Players  
Association -- along with the players associations of Major League  
Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey  
League -- to file an amicus brief with the Supreme Court last fall,  
arguing against the notion of the NFL as a single entity.

At the moment, the NFL Players Association and team owners are  
negotiating over a new collective bargaining agreement, and the threat  
of a lockout looms over the 2011 season. Historically, players have  
made significant gains, such as free agency, by challenging the NFL on  
antitrust grounds. If the Supreme Court rules that the league's 32  
organizations constitute a single entity that is exempt from antitrust  
laws, players will lose this important leverage.

In this postseason, my fellow players and I are encouraged and humbled  
to see that professional football is thriving in our country, even  
during the most dire recession in decades. Fans continue to express  
their passion for their teams by spending their limited resources to  
show their support. Every week during the season, players compete  
fiercely on the gridiron, and throughout the year, team owners compete  
to sign the best players and attract fans' loyalty and dollars.

I hope that the justices of the Supreme Court recognize and ensure the  
continuance of the intense competition inherent in this game, and in  
the business behind the game. As readers of The Washington Post know  
well, NFL teams such as the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins  
are by no means a single entity -- just ask Dan Snyder or Jerry Jones.

Drew Brees, the starting quarterback for the New Orleans Saints,  
serves on the executive committee of the NFL Players Association.