Amicus Brief: Tri-City Valley Cats et al. v. The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
Major League Baseball suppressed horizontal competition by reducing the amount of Minor League teams. In Tri-City Valley Cats v. The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, the lower court ruled that MLB’s antitrust immunity precludes them of compensating their anticompetitive actions. As such, COSAL argued for a Writ of Certiorari in order to overturn the Baseball Trilogy. Typically, antitrust cases adhere to stare decisis, and the Court seldom deviates from antitrust precedent. Even so, no other sports league has a similar exemption from antitrust laws, thereby making the baseball exemption a rarity and conflict with policy. COSAL argued that sports leagues are not immune from per se liability without valid reasons, and the MLB lacked justification for their exemption. This decision received widespread opposition from antitrust officials due to inconsistent outcomes and interpretations. As such, COSAL concluded that the Court should grant the Petitioner’s request to review the Second Circuit’s decision. The Court should overturn the MLB’s immunity, subjecting baseball teams to similar antitrust scrutiny as other sports leagues. Victoria Sims, Kristen Marttila, Gary Smith, Jr., Sathya Gosselin, and Swathi Bojedla authored this amicus brief. \
