SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - The NFL is facing a lawsuit that alleges its teams and Fanatics, Inc., conspired to dominate the market for merchandise and drove up the cost of T-shirts, hats and jerseys.
Attorney Andrew Purdy filed the lawsuit Jan. 28 in San Francisco federal court, joined the law firms Burns Charest and Girard Sharp. Their 76-page complaint makes claims that all 32 teams and Fanatics violated the Sherman Act and seeks to proceed as a class action.
"Defendants colluded to boycott competing retailers who sold NFL-licensed products through third-party online marketplaces like the Amazon marketplace," the lawsuit says.
"This boycott eliminated Defendants' competitors who would have charged lower process for NFL-licensed products sold online. In so doing, the boycott removed the downward pressure on prices and margins that, absent the conspiracy, would have otherwise flowed directly from enhanced competition."
With less retailers, the defendants entered into exclusive dealing arrangements that denied companies access to manufacturers and supplies, the suit says. Retailers are also forbidden to use NFL-related keywords to advertise or describe their products, the suit says.
"The conspiracy as a whole, and each individual part, have allowed Defendants to charge supracompetitive prices for NFL Licensed Products and share the monopoly profits among themselves," the suit says.