01-07-2024, 07:24 PM
(01-07-2024, 06:58 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: That's not true.
There have been, unfortunately, lies spread around the internet. How surprising? Many social media pages, UberFacts (which has been uber wrong on many occasions) being one of them, has spread the idea that the NFL is a sports entertainment business. And just like the WWE, the NFL can fix games. Flat out false, and here is why. The idea stems from an argumentative misinterpretation of the 2010 Supreme Court case Am. Needle, Inc. v. NFL. Those who want to believe the NFL is rigged thought that the NFL was positioning itself a single entity giving it central control over the unifying interests of the many owners. However, the NFL actually was positioning its spin-off creation NFLP, a corporation that holds all 32 teams’ intellectual property rights, as a single entity. The unifying interests among the owners were to sell merchandise using NFL teams’ intellectual property. Additionally, this argument was rejected by the Supreme Court. Justice Stevens countered that just because the NFL formed a separate corporation called NFLP does not erase the fact that the organizations are separate profit-maximizing entities who do not have fully aligned interests. The law currently does not view the NFL as a single entity. Continuing, from this precedent, central control of the outcomes of NFL games would be a Sherman § 1 anti-trust violation.
https://ublawsportsforum.com/2023/02/21/the-nfl-isnt-rigged-but-this-is-how-they-would-do-it-and-why/
Supreme Court Decision:
The Supreme Court held that the National Football League's licensing of intellectual property in this case constitutes concerted action that is not categorically beyond Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act's coverage. With Justice John Paul Stevens writing for a unanimous Court, it noted that each NFL team is a substantial, independently owned, and independently managed business, whose objectives are not common. The Court reasoned that while the actions of NFL Properties ("NFLP") are not as easily classified as concerted activity, the NFLP's decisions about licensing are a concerted activity and, thus, are covered by Section 1.
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2009/08-661
NFLP:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_Properties#:~:text=National%20Football%20League%20Properties%2C%20also,National%20Football%20League%20(NFL).
Litigation:
https://www.classaction.org/news/nfl-teams-fanatics-conspired-to-dominate-online-market-for-league-licensed-merchandise-new-class-action-claims
Thank you for that info. I stand corrected.
I will say though, as long as the refs keep going with these phantom calls that literally never even come close to actually happening I am going to believe something just isn't quite right. I mean that intentional grounding that had the announcers going wtf, was not reversed even after a ref discussion. Just too many fake calls to think something isn't up. That doesn't mean it is the nfl fixing games. Could be refs betting, completely and utterly incompetent, refs being threatened, etc. I don't know. I watched a lot of football this season and saw A LOT of fake calls and A LOT of announcers going wtf.
