“Co-sponsoring this legislation is the world’s biggest no-brainer”
By Rick Manning
Congress has a great opportunity to fight back against the woke mob by co-sponsoring legislation introduced this week that would strip Major League Baseball (MLB) of its antitrust protections. This week, Representative Jeff Duncan (R-SC) along with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced legislation in response to the league’s hyper-partisan decision to move the 2021 MLB All-Star game and draft out of Atlanta, Georgia.
In recent weeks, we’ve seen a dramatic shift in our country for the worse with the rise of the woke corporations who have decided to become the political enforcer for Democrats in Washington. In the case of MLB, it is the height of hypocrisy for them to object to voter identification at the polls. If you go to a game right now and pick up your tickets at the will-call ticket booth, they’ll ask you for ID. So, clearly the league understands the value of ID, and they apparently don’t think they’re being bigoted or racist when they ask you for a driver’s license to pick up your tickets. But they decided to play politics with voting and elections in Georgia.
Similarly, Joe Biden spread partisan lies about the Georgia law. Even the Washington Post – which predictably leans left in support of Democrats – gave Biden four Pinocchio’s, their worst rating, for spreading partisan lies about the law.
MLB’s decision is indefensible. They made a decision to pull the All-Star game out of a city that has fifty one percent African-American and move it to Denver, a city that is nine percent African-American. Congress must hold them accountable for the misguided boycott.
Americans for Limited Government is urging Americans to contact their Member of Congress and support legislation to remove MLB’s antitrust exemption.
To take action, click here.
Co-sponsoring this legislation is the world’s biggest no-brainer. The anti-trust exemption stems from a 1922 Supreme Court case where it was granted because at that time MLB was viewed as a game rather than a business. Ninety-nine years later, the league has morphed into a business supported by a game with corporate advertising, licensing deals, broadcast rights, and taxpayer funded stadiums being primary drivers of the thirty cartel members (franchises).
The value of these teams varies widely based upon their location and broadcast rights and stadium deals but the lowest valued (Miami Marlins) is still worth a billion dollars and the most valuable (New York Yankees) is worth nearly five billion dollars. This cartel engages in profit sharing where both national broadcast rights fees are distributed, visiting teams get a portion of the ticket sales generated by their appearance, and those teams which exceed a set total player salary amount pay into a fund which is distributed to the teams which pay the least in salaries. Additionally, the League negotiates with a players union without any fear of outside competition for player services by a competitive league due to the anti-trust exemption.
Politics aside, there is no reason for MLB to retain this special exemption that only they enjoy and every American should embrace re-establishing competition into the marketplace of what was once America’s pastime.
Currently, Lee, who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Antitrust Subcommittee has been joined by Cruz, Hawley, Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) as original co-sponsors.
On the House side, Rep. Duncan has secured 29 original co-sponsors: Jim Jordan (OH), Ralph Norman (SC), William Timmons (SC), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Austin Scott (GA), Jody Hice (GA), Buddy Carter (GA), Rick Allen (GA), Andrew Clyde (GA), Chip Roy (TX), Louie Gohmert (TX), Randy Weber (TX), Brian Babin (TX), Pete Sessions (TX), Lance Gooden (TX), Paul Gosar (AZ), Andy Biggs (AZ), Jerry Carl (AL), Barry Moore (AL), Dan Bishop (NC), Yvette Herrell (NM), Greg Steube (FL), Mary Miller (IL), Claudia Tenney (NY), Scott Perry (PA), Rick Crawford (AR), Lauren Boebert (CO), Burgess Owens (UT), and Bob Good (VA).
Rick Manning is President of Americans for Limited Government.
