Wendell Taylor comments on Supreme Court ruling against the NFL in Law360

Antitrust Lawyers React to NFL's High Court Loss

Law360

On May 24, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the NFL's request for broad antitrust law protection, saying the league must be considered 32 separate teams, not one big business, so its merchandising agreements are not exempt from antimonopoly laws. Washington competition lawyer Wendell Taylor told Law360: The fact that the decision was unanimous is a clear sign of the court's reliance on the two major signposts — Copperweld and Sealy — which both stand for the proposition that the substance of the economic transaction is more important than the form. Despite the structure of the NFL, its member teams necessarily competed against each other for licensing revenues.