Congress and Rule-Making.

The article deals with issues associated with federal intervention among sports leagues or franchises in the U.S. Government policy should be neutral as to whether a sports franchise should be relocated, allowing the leagues and team owners to decide where the franchise will be most valuable. The controversy over sports franchise relocations first arose as a legal and political issue in 1980, when the Oakland Raiders, a member of the National Football League, announced that it would start playing its games in Los Angeles, California rather than in Oakland. Most discussion of the relocation issue is dominated by city officials and local fans angered at the prospect of a team moving after they have supported it for years. Departure of a major professional sports team can have a measurable economic impact. In addition to ticket sales and revenues generated by stadium concessions, there are indirect losses to restaurants and other businesses in the stadium's vicinity. The interests of sports fans and local taxpayers can be served quite adequately through businesslike contracts and market processes. For any private market to work properly, the government must not distort or block the process.