118 HR 4071 IH: Moneyball Act U.S. House of Representatives 2023-06-13 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I118th CONGRESS1st SessionH. R. 4071IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESJune 13, 2023Ms. Lee of California (for herself and Mr. DeSaulnier) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the JudiciaryA BILLTo require a professional baseball club to compensate its home community if such club relocates its home field more than 25 miles from its previous location.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Moneyball Act.

2.

Sense of Congress

It is the sense of Congress that the unique antitrust exemption granted to major league baseball is an artifact of the unique value that individual teams have within their home communities, and that breaking the bonds that tie franchises to their communities would nullify the legal and public policy basis for such exemption.

3.

Compensation for home communities of professional baseball teams

(a)Any professional baseball club that relocates its home field more than 25 miles from its previous location shall be required to provide compensation to its former host community.(b)Such compensation shall be—(1) not less than the State, local, and or Tribal tax revenue levied in the ten years prior to the date of relocation; and(2) paid respectively to each State, local, and or Tribal government which levied taxes on the club in ten years prior to the date of relocation.(c)Should any professional baseball club fail to provide the compensation required by subsection (b), then—(1)no persons in the business of organized professional baseball shall be exempt from the antitrust laws; and(2)section 27 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 26b) shall not apply to the business of organized professional baseball.(d) Should any professional baseball club seek to avoid the compensation required by this Act by disbanding the club, then the officers of such club shall be personally responsible for the cost of compensation.

4.

Definitions

In this Act—(1)the term home field means the venue where a professional baseball club plays more than one-third of its games in any calendar year;(2)the term host community means the State, local, and or tribal government areas where a professional baseball team has its home field and where it contributes tax revenue; and(3)the term antitrust laws—(A)has the meaning given the term in subsection (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12); and(B)includes section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent that such section applies to unfair methods of competition.