LOS ANGELES -- The National Football League was ordered Wednesday by a federal court jury to pay nearly $50 million in damages for violating antitrust laws by blocking the Los Angeles Raiders move from Oakland to Southern California.
The six-woman jury ordered that $11.55 million be paid to the Raiders and $4.86 million to the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission. The amount of the award is automatically tripled in antitrust cases -- a fact the jury was not told.
The damages awarded by the jury were half those sought by the Raiders and slightly more than the commission wanted.
The same jury decided last May the NFL violated federal antitrust laws by blocking the Raiders move from Oakland in 1980 and 1981 through court action and by refusing to schedule the team's games in Los Angeles.
During the trial's three-week penalty phase, lawyers for the NFL argued with Raider and Los Angeles Coliseum attorneys over how much the delay cost the Raiders and the Coliseum in lost revenues.
The Raiders insisted they lost about $20 million in ticket sales, television contracts, concession revenues, luxury box rentals and other income. The Coliseum Commission asked for $4.7 million in damages.
The NFL had indicated that while it did not agree with the earlier decision that found it guilty of antitrust violations -- the league is appealing the ruling -- it believed $3.5 million in damages for the Raiders and $670,000 for the Coliseum would represent the highest reasonable estimate of actual damages.
Federal antitrust law provides that as a deterrent against monopolistic activities any damages awarded in an antitrust suit are automatically tripled.
The main damage claim rested on calculations of how many fans the Raiders would have drawn if permitted to move from the 55,000-seat Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum to the 92,000-seat Los Angeles Coliseum.
Throughout the penalty phase of the trial, the Raider lawyers and managing general partner Al Davis insisted the team would have averaged 80,000 fans per game in the Los Angeles Coliseum during the 1980-81 seasons.
The NFL, with Commissioner Pete Rozelle testifying, tried to show that the Raiders -- who finally were able to move to Los Angeles for the strike-shortened 1982 season -- would have averaged only 55,000 fans because of a limit of good seats.
The NFL also argued the team is not entitled to triple damages because they 'invited the injury' of an antitrust violation by not asking for a vote of team owners before announcing plans to move.
In another action involving the franchise shift, a trial is scheduled to begin May 17 in Monterey, Calif., on a suit by Oakland seeking to return the team to Northern California under the law of eminent domain.
Al Davis, managing general partner of the Raiders, said he was not disappointed with the award in the landmark case, which pitted the flamboyant businessman in an almost personal battle with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle.
'I like to win and we won,' Davis told reporters. 'But I'll tell you the truth, I would have rather won the Jets game last January,' referring to the Raiders 17-14 loss to New York that knocked them out of Super Bowl contention.
NFL attorney Patrick Lynch said the awards were 'excessive' and the decision would be appealed.
'In large part,' he said of the awards, 'they are not substantiated by the evidence.'
A spokesman for the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission said the money will allow the commission to 'solidify our financial situation and allow us to pay off our obligations.'
The same jury decided last May the NFL violated federal antitrust laws by blocking the Raiders move from Oakland in 1980 and 1981 through court action and by refusing to schedule the team's games in Los Angeles.
During the trial's three-week penalty phase, lawyers for the NFL argued with Raider and Los Angeles Coliseum attorneys over how much the delay cost the Raiders and the Coliseum in lost revenues.
The Raiders insisted they lost about $20 million in ticket sales, television contracts, concession revenues, luxury box rentals and other income. The Coliseum Commission asked for $4.7 million in damages.
The NFL had indicated that while it did not agree with the earlier decision that found it guilty of antitrust violations -- the league is appealing the ruling -- it believed $3.5 million in damages for the Raiders and $670,000 for the Coliseum would represent the highest reasonable estimate of actual damages.
Federal antitrust law provides that as a deterrent against monopolistic activities any damages awarded in an antitrust suit are automatically tripled.
The main damage claim rested on calculations of how many fans the Raiders would have drawn if permitted to move from the 55,000-seat Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum to the 92,000-seat Los Angeles Coliseum.
Throughout the penalty phase of the trial, the Raider lawyers and Davis insisted the team would have averaged 80,000 fans per game in the Los Angeles Coliseum during the 1980-81 seasons.
The NFL, with Rozelle testifying, tried to show that the Raiders - who finally were able to move to Los Angeles for the strike-shortened 1982 season -- would have averaged only 55,000 fans because of a limit of good seats.
