Attorney General Miyares Challenges Baseball Antitrust Exemption Impacting Virginia Minor League Teams 

RICHMOND, Va. – Attorney General Jason Miyares today joined a bipartisan coalition of 17 state attorneys general in an amicus brief urging the United States Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the major league baseball antitrust exemption, which has unfairly impacted dozens of minor league teams nationwide, including Virginia’s Bristol, Danville, Pulaski, and Bluefield affiliates. 

A 2020 agreement among 30 Major League Baseball (MLB) teams cut affiliated minor league teams from 160 to 120. In that contraction, 38 other teams across 23 states lost the ability to compete for Minor League talent and all financial support they had from their Major League affiliates.

In any other sport or business, that unfair horizontal agreement to restrict competition would have been prohibited by state and federal antitrust laws, which are designed to protect consumers and promote competition. But a century-old series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions exempts baseball from all antitrust laws – both state and federal.

The amicus brief focuses on the mistake the Supreme Court made by blocking enforcement of state antitrust laws even though Congress never intended to preempt those state laws. The amicus brief also highlights the powerful economic and cultural role that minor league baseball plays in towns across the United States.

“I urge the Supreme Court to protect minor league baseball teams here in Virginia, and throughout the nation. Baseball is the national pastime, and the Court should reverse the antiquated decision that allows the MLB to eliminate minor league clubs, punish their fans, and disappoint communities that love their local teams,” said Attorney General Miyares. 

Virginia Attorney General Miyares joined the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia in filing today’s brief. 

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