March 11, 2004

County joins Bengals stadium suit

The anti-trust suit against the Cincinnati Bengals has another new plaintiff: Hamilton County, which announced yesterday that it was signing on to the suit. Proving that the NFL abused its monopoly power to extort a sweetheart lease on the $458 million Paul Brown Stadium will be "a steep mountain to climb," says sports economist Roger Noll, since "making a bad decision is not the same thing as being defrauded." The potential payoff could be worth it, though: the suit seeks $200 million in damages, which would be tripled if the Bengals are found to have breached anti-trust laws.