D.C. Congresswoman files bill to strip NFL of antitrust protection
Taking advantage of the publicity associated with the dawn of a a new NFL season, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has introduced a bill to strip the league of its federal antitrust protection as long as they sanction Washingtons nickname, which many consider racist.
The National Football League, a multi-billion dollar industry, and the Washington football team should not be benefitting financially from federal antitrust exemptions while they continue to promote a disparaging moniker that has been found by legal authorities to be a racial slur, Norton, a Democrat from the District of Columbia said. The name of the nations capital, Washington, should always be associated with pride, not with a moniker that mocks and insults Native Americans.
Changing the name is not a question of if, but when. The sooner Commissioner Roger Goodell and the leagues 29 other team owners get on the right side of the law and of history and use their leadership, the sooner Washingtons football team will cease being an embarrassment to the league and to the country.
Threatening the leagues antitrust exemption is a powerful political tool, and the league wont give it up easily. But ti could also be used as leverage toward some other means. Nortons own press release cites another bill she introduced last year as pressuring the league to give up its tax-exempt status.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/10/d-c-congresswoman-files-bill-to-strip-nfl-of-antitrust-protection/