Senate Judiciary Committee questions legality of Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption

The Senate Judiciary Committee is questioning the legality of Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption, releasing a letter on Tuesday addressed to Advocates for Minor Leaguers asking about its effect on the lives of players.

The letter is a bipartisan effort led by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and Mike Lee (R-Utah). The letter by the Judiciary Committee marks the first substantial step taken by the federal government to question the legality of MLB's antitrust exemption.

«We write to seek information about how baseball's antitrust exemption is impacting competition in the labor market for minor league ballplayers as well as the operations of minor league teams,» the letter reads.

The questions from the letter include: what effect the antitrust exemption has on the occurrence of lockouts and work stoppages at the MLB level; what role the antitrust exemption plays in requiring all minor leaguers to sign a uniform player contract; and what effect removing the antitrust exemption would have on minor league working conditions. It also asks about the extent of corruption and abuse on the market for international prospects and if the antitrust exemption has any role in enabling these signing practices.

The letter represents the most thorough questioning of MLB's antitrust exemption at the federal level. The issue had twice reached the Supreme Court since 1922 (1953 and 1972), and a 2017 challenge failed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

«We need to examine how Major League Baseball's 100-year-old antitrust exemption is affecting the operation of minor league baseball teams and the ability of minor league ballplayers to make a decent living,» Durbin