To provide that professional baseball teams and leagues composed of such teams shall be subject to the antitrust laws.

January 4, 1995

Mr. MOYNIHAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

To provide that professional baseball teams and leagues composed of such teams shall be subject to the antitrust laws.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `National Pastime Preservation Act of 1995'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds that--

(1) the business of organized professional baseball is in, or affects, interstate commerce; and

(2) the antitrust laws should be amended to reverse the result of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore, Inc. v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, 259 U.S. 200 (1922), Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc., 346 U.S. 356 (1953), and Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972), which exempted baseball from coverage under the antitrust laws.

SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF ANTITRUST LAWS TO PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL .

The Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

`SEC. 27. (a) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in Public Law 87-331 (15 U.S.C. 291 et seq.) (commonly known as the `Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961'), the antitrust laws shall apply to the business of organized professional baseball .

`(b) APPLICATION OF SECTION- This section--

(1) shall apply to any agreement that is in effect on or after the date of enactment of this section and to conduct engaged in after that date in furtherance of that agreement or in furtherance of any other object; but

(2) shall not apply to conduct engaged in before that date.'.