A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed San Jose’s antrust claim against MLB, but allowed the contract interference claims to remain. A story describing the dismissal can be seen here.
The court said that the antitrust exemption for baseball, first found in the Federal League case in 1921 and upheld most recently in Flood v. Kuhn in 1972, said that the exemption remains in place until congress acts to change it. Congress did act in the 1998 Curt Flood Act that granted antitrust rights to players but did not alter the exemption as it applied to the business of baseball. This act is interpreted as congressional action that supported the exemption for baseball. Of interest is that the lesser claims will continue. Antitrust claims allow treble damages against a defendant, so that dismissal is a significant victory for MLB.