Supreme Court rejects San Jose appeal over Oakland A's stadium

The Supreme Court of the United States denied review of San Jose vs. Commissioner of Baseball this morning, ending the city's attempt to bring down Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption with regard to the location of franchises and most likely its route through litigation to force Major League Baseball to approve the relocation of the Oakland Athletics to San Jose. The Court does not typically explain why it denies review, though this particular case was fraught with problems that made this case not the most ideal for the Court to reconsider its antitrust precedents.

One significant issue was whether San Jose had standing to sue in the first place. Another was a recent Santa Clara County Superior Court decision that invalidated the land-option agreement for the stadium site that is currently going through appeals in the state appellate courts. FanGraphs' Nathaniel Grow today notes several other cases better suited for the Supreme Court to reexamine the scope of its antitrust exemption.

Also mentioned on FanGraphs is that litigation between San Jose and Major League Baseball continues in state court on a California law claim asserting "the league had unlawfully interfered with its land-option contract with the A's." The remedy in that case, however, would be monetary compensation and not the forced relocation of the Athletics.