[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8097 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8097
To keep professional sports franchises in their home communities, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 26, 2026
Mr. Casar (for himself, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Deluzio, Ms. Garcia of Texas,
Ms. Simon, and Mr. Garcia of Illinois) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To keep professional sports franchises in their home communities, and
for other purposes.
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 ``Home Team Act of 2026''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Professional sports franchises have a significant
economic and cultural impact on their local communities.
(2) The relocation of a professional sports franchise
abandons the home community and fan base of the franchise that
is largely responsible for the growth and development of the
franchise.
(3) The use of public funds, through a negotiated
relocation or threat to relocate of a professional sports
franchise, to pay for new sports stadiums have a substantial
and detrimental effect on State and local governments and their
taxpayers.
(4) The building of a stadium to secure a franchise in
their new community may displace local residents with little
consideration to their needs.
(5) Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the Constitution of
the United States grants Congress the power to regulate
interstate commerce.
(6) Professional sports franchises have a substantial and
direct effect upon interstate commerce because--
(A) professional sports games are broadcast on
television and streamed around the country and across
the world;
(B) visiting teams and fan bases travel from State
to State to compete in or watch games, purchasing
tickets for travel, lodging, food, and other items; and
(C) American professional sports leagues,
recognizing the interstate nature of the revenues
generated by the professional sports business, have
agreed to revenue sharing models, whereby the revenue
generated from a local game is shared amongst all the
sports franchises in the league across States and for
Canadian sports franchises as well.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP BANS AND OPPORTUNITY TO
PURCHASE.
(a) Prohibition.--A league, operating in or affecting interstate
commerce, may not, as part of league requirements or agreements--
(1) prohibit ownership of a franchise by a government
entity or members of the general public; or
(2) prohibit the transfer of a franchise to a government
entity or members of the general public.
(b) Opportunity to Purchase.--
(1) In general.--In accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3),
a franchise owner may not move the franchise from their home
community, across State lines, or eliminate the franchise
unless the franchise owner offers an entity specified in
paragraph (2) a fair opportunity to purchase such franchise.
(2) Priority.--A fair opportunity to purchase a franchise
pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be provided, in descending
priority, to the following entities:
(A) A local government entity or a home community
cooperative.
(B) A nonprofit organization that operates in the
community or a public-private partnership composed of a
local government entity or State government entity with
a home community cooperative or nonprofit organization
headquartered in such unit of local government or
State.
(C) A private person, private consortium, or
company that resides in the community or operates in
the community.
(3) Fair opportunity.--In carrying out this subsection, a
franchise owner shall--
(A) provide proper notice regarding the proposed
new location of the franchise or proposed franchise
elimination;
(B) offer the franchise for purchase for fair
market value; and
(C) accept an offer made by an entity described
under paragraph (2) if that offer is the amount that is
a fair price as determined under subsection (c) or more
than that amount.
(c) Appraisers.--
(1) Appraisers.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall
establish a team of professionally trained appraisers to
evaluate a fair price for a franchise.
(2) Deduction.--The evaluation of a fair price undertaken
pursuant to paragraph (1) shall deduct from the appraisal
amount the total amount of any government payment, credit, or
subsidy provided for the construction of any stadium where the
franchise played the majority of their home games.
(d) Enforcement.--
(1) Civil penalty.--The Attorney General shall assess
against a franchise owner in violation of this section a fine
of $30,000 for each day the owner is in violation of this
section.
(2) Private right of action.--A unit of local government or
a State may bring a civil action for violation of this section
in an appropriate district court against a franchise owner for
injunctive and monetary relief.
(e) Rule of Construction.--
(1) In general.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to
preempt, diminish, or interfere with the right of employees to
collectively bargain over terms and conditions of employment.
(2) Existing agreements.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to preempt, diminish, or interfere with a collective
bargaining agreement that is in place on the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Community.--The term ``community'', with respect to a
franchise, means the metropolitan statistical area, as
determined by the Office of Management and Budget, in which the
franchise plays the greatest number of regular season home
games within its league.
(2) Consortium.--The term ``consortium'' means a group of
private investors created specifically for a particular
transaction of acquiring a sports franchise.
(3) Franchise.--The term ``franchise'' means a member
professional sports team of a league.
(4) Franchise owner.--The term ``franchise owner'' means a
person who owns a franchise.
(5) Home community cooperative.--The term ``home community
cooperative'', with respect to a franchise, means an autonomous
association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common
economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a
jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise that is
based in the community in which the franchise plays the
greatest number of regular season home games within its league.
(6) League.--The term ``league'' includes the National
Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major
League Baseball, the National Hockey League, Major League
Soccer, the Women's National Basketball Association, and the
National Women's Soccer League.
(7) Local government entity.--The term ``local government
entity'', with respect to a franchise, means any unit of local
government with jurisdiction over land use decisions in the
location in which the franchise plays the greatest number of
regular season home games within its league.
(8) Nonprofit organization.--The term ``nonprofit
organization'' means any organization registered as a public
charity by the Internal Revenue Service.
(9) Private company.--The term ``private company'' means a
business entity the securities of which do not trade on public
markets.
(10) Proper notice.--The term ``proper notice'', with
respect to proposed relocation or elimination of a franchise,
means notice that is provided not later than one year prior to
the commencement of the season in which the franchise is to
play home games in the proposed new location or the date of
franchise elimination to all interested parties, the news
media, and on all social media platforms of the franchise, and
includes--
(A) identification of the proposed new home
location, if applicable;
(B) a summary of the reasons for the proposed
relocation or franchise elimination; and
(C) the date on which the proposed relocation or
franchise elimination would be effective.
(11) Social media platform.--The term ``social media
platform'' means a website or internet medium that--
(A) permits a person to become a registered user,
establish an account, or create a profile for the
purpose of allowing users to create, share, and view
user-generated content through such an account or
profile;
(B) enables one or more users to generate content
that can be viewed by other users of the website or
medium; and
(C) primarily serves as a medium for users to
interact with content generated by other users of the
website or medium.
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