USA Today:U.S. Rep: Congress should lift the NFL's anti-trust exemption

[SnyderShrugged]

strangely, this subject came up in a healthcare debate thread the otherday. It was about the anti-trust exemption of the health insurers.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2009/10/us-rep-congress-should-lift-the-nfls-anti-trust-exemption/1

U.S. Rep Maxine Waters angrily told NFL commissioner Roger Goodell today that she thinks Congress should consider removing the league's antitrust exemption.

Waters, a democrat from California, attacked Goodell at a hearing on Capitol Hill and said the NFL has neglected the plight of injured players while it pursues its own profit margins. Waters said the league has done too little to address head injuries.

Said Waters, via Politics Daily:

"We have heard from the NFL time and time again. You're always studying. You're always trying. You're hopeful. But I want to know now-- what are you doing in the negotiations that are going on now to deal with this problem and other problems related to the injuries of football players and the impact on their health?"

When Goodell responded that the league plans to address the issue of head trauma, Waters cut him off:

"I know you do everything you possibly can to hold on to those profits, but I think the responsibility of this Congress is to take a look at that antitrust exemption you have and, in my opinion, take it away."

link for rest

[DCsportsfan53]

****ing politicians are so worthless. Football players take risks, they know it going in and they get paid more in a year than I make in a decade for taking those risks. Our economy is royally ****ed, we're on the brink of permanently lowering our standard of living as a society, we're fighting a war in the place where empires go to die, we can't provide reasonable health care for our citizens like every ****ing other developed nation, you've bailed out the few, the pieces of **** who sunk us all while sweating the whole thing off the backs of the average American and you're sitting here sticking your nose into what the NFL is and isn't doing? Really?!?!? This is why we're doomed, we have zero leadership as a country and the people in charge have zero accountability and don't care about the real people. It's like I have to watch the ****ing Redskins every day of the week, on Sunday and then it's organizational clone, the US gov't, every other day of the week. This Rep can go **** himself with a dull sword.


Sorry for the rant ladies and gentleman, if you couldn't tell, I'm a little disenchanted with our "leadership" right now. :D

[SnyderShrugged]

****ing politicians are so worthless. They take risks, they know it going in and they get paid more in a year than I make in a decade for taking those risks. Our economy is royally ****ed, we're on the bring of permanently lowering our standard of living as a society, we're fighting a war in the place where empires go to die, you've bailed out the few, the pieces of **** who sunk us all while sweating the whole thing of the backs of the average American and you're sitting here sticking your nose into what the NFL is and isn't doing? Really?!?!? This is why we're doomed, we have zero leadership as a country and the people in charge have zero accountability and don't care about the real people. It's like I have to watch the ****ing Redskins every day of the week, on Sunday and then it's organizational clone, the US gov't, every other day of the week. This Rep can go **** himself with a dull sword.


Sorry for the rant ladies and gentleman, if you couldn't tell, I'm a little disenchanted with our "leadership" right now. :D


amen my brotha!!!

[DCsportsfan53]

amen my brotha!!!


After awhile you just shake your head and say "really? This is where your priorities lie, there's nothing more pressing?" Gotta say, the USA I'll be spending most of my adult life in ain't going to be nothing like the ones my parents lived in. You better believe it's coming down, and fast.

[Larry]

Never happen.

Y'all think that Social Security is the Third Rail of politics? Just wait until Congress tries to eff with the NFL.

Heck, I think they could eff NASCAR and get less blowback than the NFL.

[SnyderShrugged]

as much as I agree with dcsportsfans assessment of "wtf is congress even discussing ths for", I do have to point out that if they can call an entire insurance industry of thousands of insurance companies a monopoly, then they certainly can call the NFL one.

personally, they need to get their noses out of both.

[SnyderShrugged]

After awhile you just shake your head and say "really? This is where your priorities lie, there's nothing more pressing?" Gotta say, the USA I'll be spending most of my adult life in ain't going to be nothing like the ones my parents lived in. You better believe it's coming down, and fast.


I hear ya on this too man.

[DCsportsfan53]

as much as I agree with dcsportsfans assessment of "wtf is congress even discussing ths for", I do have to point out that if they can call an entire insurance industry of thousands of insurance companies a monopoly, then they certainly can call the NFL one.

personally, they need to get their noses out of both.


For me, the part that's got me discouraged is that I don't believe it's entirely the gov'ts fault, and here's why. Much too large a portion of our society are some combination of lazy, apathetic, spoiled and lacking testicular fortitude. Bottom line, they are a reflection of us as a whole, unfortunately. The people didn't care enough, they settled for the status quo and creep of power, they allow themselves to be herded and divided like sheep.

I think most of what we have today, the vast wealth, influence, technology, power all stemmed out of the fact that, following WWII, we were the only industrial country left standing that wasn't bombed to hell. We supplied everyone with everything, we built everything, we made everything. For a solid decade, Europe couldn't support itself. The problem is, since then, we've been spending, acting, policing and maintaining a military that belied the fact that the rest of the world rebuilt. We've been living off those post war decades ever since, like an inheritance being burned through (and viewed as much, in many ways). For the past couple decades we've propped it up with smoke, mirrors and borrowing. It's all coming tumbling down, now. Outside of militarily, we're not the leaders of much anymore. We don't make much of anything outside food, the money's all leaving for Asia and all we have left is the military might, and the bill to foot to support that (it's MASSIVE) without the economic means to support it. Our society has gone stale as a whole and imo, will have to make major changes and go through a long period of tough times to hopefully climb back up in future generations, generations that will learn from the outset the value of hard work and some humility as a whole because it's too late for my generation or previous ones to understand those lessons as completely.

Again, sorry for the rant, I know it's sidetracking the thread, just been on my mind lately.

[ACW]

Never happen.

Y'all think that Social Security is the Third Rail of politics? Just wait until Congress tries to eff with the NFL.

Heck, I think they could eff NASCAR and get less blowback than the NFL.That's 'cause only dumb hicks like cars in circles. EVERYONE loves football.

[Larry]

'Course, if we had a space program, then maybe things would be different.

(Long as we're going way off topic, and all. :) )

[Elessar78]

For me, the part that's got me discouraged is that I don't believe it's entirely the gov'ts fault, and here's why. Much too large a portion of our society are some combination of lazy, apathetic, spoiled and lacking testicular fortitude. Bottom line, they are a reflection of us as a whole, unfortunately. The people didn't care enough, they settled for the status quo and creep of power, they allow themselves to be herded and divided like sheep.

I think most of what we have today, the vast wealth, influence, technology, power all stemmed out of the fact that, following WWII, we were the only industrial country left standing that wasn't bombed to hell. We supplied everyone with everything, we built everything, we made everything. For a solid decade, Europe couldn't support itself. The problem is, since then, we've been spending, acting, policing and maintaining a military that belied the fact that the rest of the world rebuilt. We've been living off those post war decades ever since, like an inheritance being burned through (and viewed as much, in many ways). For the past couple decades we've propped it up with smoke, mirrors and borrowing. It's all coming tumbling down, now. Outside of militarily, we're not the leaders of much anymore. We don't make much of anything outside food, the money's all leaving for Asia and all we have left is the military might, and the bill to foot to support that (it's MASSIVE) without the economic means to support it. Our society has gone stale as a whole and imo, will have to make major changes and go through a long period of tough times to hopefully climb back up in future generations, generations that will learn from the outset the value of hard work and some humility as a whole because it's too late for my generation or previous ones to understand those lessons as completely.

Again, sorry for the rant, I know it's sidetracking the thread, just been on my mind lately.

Good points in the rant but complacency is just part of the natural cycle of things. Spain and Great Britain were world powers before us and we assumed their mantles. Going further back, Rome. By the time you realize that it's happening it's too late to change things. But it's not like those countries went back to the stone age—they just had to play second fiddle for a (long) while.

Interestingly enough, the decline of the Spanish and Roman empires coincided with a ton of inflation within their respective monetary systems. Not saying it was a cause, just pointing out that it happened around the same time.

Sorry to be a downer (and a thread hi-jack) but look at some of the facts: we don't produce the highest achieving students as a whole, we're laden with debt, and our operating costs are too high. If you were talking about a company, would you invest in that company or think it had a bright future?

[Bang]

The reason congress is discussing it is because the people that the NFL are screwing number in the thousands, and they are US citizens.

I know that seems outlandish, after all congress has more important things to do then look after it's citizens, but that is who they are, and that is part of their job.

~Bang

[Predicto]

If I recall correctly, the NFL doesn't have an antitrust exemption, only Major League Baseball.

What the NFL does is regulated by the terms of a collective bargaining agreement between the owners and the players. That provides some immunity from lawsuits, and the players give up a hell of a lot of rights that you and I take for granted in our own lives.

But it is not the same as an antitrust exemption.

[Larry]

You mean, Maxine Waters is threatening to repeal a law that doesn't exist? :halo:

How about Congress threatening to pass a federal law that prohibits using taxpayer dollars to build stadiums?

(I'm certain we could justify it under "interstate commerce".)

[Predicto]

You mean, Maxine Waters is threatening to repeal a law that doesn't exist? :halo:

She's not exactly a rocket scientist. :2cents:

[Heisenberg]

Either way - the person who talked about football players making more money than they will ever see in their lifetime doesn't seem to understand that this is mostly about the older players who didn't make a lot of money playing the game. I think the biggest problem is the NFL became what it is today on the backs of many of those players and is now basically telling them to **** off. Many of them are basically crippled at this point and don't have much money . . .

[Larry]

Either way - the person who talked about football players making more money than they will ever see in their lifetime doesn't seem to understand that this is mostly about the older players who didn't make a lot of money playing the game. I think the biggest problem is the NFL became what it is today on the backs of many of those players and is now basically telling them to **** off. Many of them are basically crippled at this point and don't have much money . . .

And the reason why you claim that this has anything whatsoever to do with Joe Namath's knees is . . . ?

You read anything about any proposal that's before the NFL to change the NFL's rules, retroactively to 30 years ago?