CRA International, Inc., a worldwide leader in providing economic, financial, and management consulting services, today announced that CRA academic Senior Consultant Franklin M. Fisher supported by CRA staff assisted the National Football League, its member clubs, and NFL Properties (“NFL Defendants”) with economic analysis of the antitrust lawsuit brought against the NFL and its co-defendant, Reebok International, Ltd. In the litigation, American Needle alleged that the NFL teams’ exclusive licensing agreement with Reebok violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The district court granted summary judgment to the NFL defendants, a decision that the Seventh Circuit affirmed.

Professor Fisher and CRA analyzed the question of whether the NFL Defendants function as a single economic entity with regard to the licensing and marketing of their intellectual property for use on consumer products. Their analysis found that, as an economic matter, the NFL Defendants do function as a single economi......