[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16735-16736]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE GIVE FANS A CHANCE ACT NOVEMBER 3, 2011

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                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 3, 2011

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, today I am proud to introduce the Give 
Fans a Chance Act. Professional sports teams are a focal point and an 
important part of the identity of a community. Many of these 
communities have taxed themselves and provided financial incentives for 
stadiums, infrastructure improvements, and other enticements to team 
owners.
  Too often the owners of sports franchises play cities off of one 
another to leverage even more money. In certain disdainful cases, 
owners have moved sports teams from cities who would and could provide 
the support for them to remain.
  Public ownership of teams can help prevent these franchise moves and 
closures that occur against the wishes of a region. Unfortunately, many 
league rules and practices either prohibit or discourage public 
ownership. The ``Give Fans a Chance Act'' eliminates such rules.
  The bill ties the leagues' broadcast antitrust exemption to the 
requirements in this bill, which eliminates league rules against public 
ownership and gives communities a voice in team relocation decisions.
  An example of how this has worked is the story of the Green Bay 
Packers. The Packers

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were founded in 1919. In 1950, the fans saved the team from bankruptcy 
through a public stock offering. Since then, this team from the NFL's 
smallest city has seen stadium sell-outs for over 50 years and 13 NFL 
championships, including four Super Bowls.
  Like it or not, professional sports teams have become an integral 
part of the fabric that makes up our communities. Since 1950, however, 
there have been over 50 franchise moves in the four major sports 
leagues. Sports team owners often instigate pitched battles between 
local communities over placement of teams. These communities are 
willing to pay millions of dollars to coax teams from one city to 
another, sometimes at the expense of other vital city services. 
Communities need more leverage in these battles.
  Give Fans a Chance provides that leverage by requiring teams to 
listen to the community before making a relocation decision. It also 
gives communities an opportunity to purchase the team before they would 
be allowed to move to another city.

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