Professional Sports Community Protection Act of 1987

Summary

Professional Sports Community Protection Act of 1987 - States that it is not unlawful by reason of the antitrust laws for a professional sports league to enforce rules authorizing members to decide whether a club may change its home territory, to require the sharing of television revenue, and to establish procedures for selecting owners. Permits a league to enforce its regulations by bringing a civil action but withholds such right from a competing league. Requires any person seeking to change the home territory of a member club to provide six months' notice to the league representatives, stadium owner, and local government. Requires the league to determine a club's home territory within two months after receiving notice of a proposed change. Prohibits changing the home territory or city of a club without providing such notice and receiving authorization from the league. Requires a league, when reviewing a proposed change in home territory, to make findings regarding: (1) the adequacy of the existing stadium and nearby facilities; (2) the desire of the stadium owner and local officials to remedy inadequacies; (3) the extent of public financial support for the club; (4) the impact of the change on any contract between the club and a public or private party; (5) the effect of the ownership or management of the club on the need for a change in territory; (6) the amount of the club's revenues and the extent of operating losses; (7) the extent of fan support; (8) the number of professional teams playing the same sport in the club's home territory; (9) any bona fide offer to purchase the club and keep the club in its home territory; and (10) the extent of negotiations to keep the club in its home territory. Requires a league, when considering a relocation of a member to a different city within a member's home territory, to make findings on: (1) the adequacy of the existing stadium and nearby facilities; (2) the ability of the stadium's owner to remedy inadequacies; (3) the impact of the proposed relocation on ticketholders and the broadcast of games through the member's home territory; (4) the extent of public financial support by the club; and (5) the impact of the proposed relocation on any contract with a public or private party. Provides for the judicial review of league determinations and the judicial enforcement of provisions of this Act. Requires professional sports leagues to adopt and submit to the Secretary of Commerce for publication in the Federal Register a policy identifying the criteria for determining when and where future expansion will occur. Directs leagues to consider the views of State and local government officials, stadium owners, sports fans, and representatives of communities from which member clubs have relocated, without league approval, within the last five years. Requires such criteria developed by sports leagues to address the demographic characteristics of communities, the geographical balance of the league's clubs, the interests of communities that have lost teams, minimum guidelines for community facilities, and the potential support existing in prospective sites for franchises. Requires the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate to conduct oversight hearings on the effects of this Act at least annually. Prohibits State and local governments from enforcing laws or regulations imposing limitations on professional sports leagues which are inconsistent with this Act.

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1 official file

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 19 March 1987

  Open at official source

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