The Athletics baseball team has been located in Oakland, California for many years. Several years ago, the A’s decided they would like to move their franchise to San Jose, which they anticipate would be a more profitable location. San Jose responded that it would also like to have the A’s relocate to their city. In 2009, the A’s asked Major League Baseball (MLB) for permission to move its franchise from Oakland to San Jose, but the league essentially shelved the request by sending it to a committee. San Jose then sued MLB, claiming that the refusal of its relocation request was an agreement among MLB team owners to preserve the San Francisco Giants’ monopoly in violation of the federal and state antitrust laws.

On October 11, 2013, Judge Ronald Whyte of the Northern District of California ruled that under longstanding United States Supreme Court precedent, “MLB’s alleged interference with the A’s relocation to San Jose is exempt from antitrust regulation.” San Jose appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the Court should overrule MLB’s historic exemption from the antitrust laws, which the Supreme Court itself has acknowledged may be described as “unrealistic, inconsistent, [and] illogical.” On January 15, 2015 Judge Alex Kozinski issued the opinion of the Court affirming the District Court’s decision and refusing to limit or overturn baseball’s antitrust exemption.

Originally published in Competition - The Journal of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California Vol. 24, No. 1 (Spring 2015).