A judge who is a fan could decide suit against leagues

A 60-year-old U.S. District Court judge who grew up a Detroit Tigers fan and said she still retains some prized baseball cards has become the best hope to end the anguish of a lot of sports fans in Hawaii and across the country.

Shira A. Scheindlin is presiding over Garber et al versus the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball et al, a class action suit filed in New York that could finally do away with the heavy-handed blackouts that have kept fans in Hawaii from being able to view many games of the world champion San Francisco Giants and other West Coast teams for years.

Hawaii fans are in their fourth season of growing frustration with the blackouts that have prevented them from better following primarily the Giants but also, at times, the Oakland A’s, Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres on a regular basis.

The 53-page suit, which parallels one against the NHL before Scheindlin, alleges that the two leagues, along with Comcast and

DirecTV, are an “illegal cartel” unfairly restricting competition on broadcasts of those sports.

It alleges the market has been divided into “exclusive territories which are protected by anticompetitive blackouts and by colluding to sell the ‘out-of-market’ packages only through the league which exploits its illegal monopoly by charging supra-competitive prices.”

In our case, Hawaii has been claimed as a “home television territory” by the Giants, A’s, Dodgers, Angels, Mariners and Padres. (Only the Giants, A’s and Mariners are named in the suit).

What kept the Twins, Nationals and Rays from piling on and also attempting to leverage Hawaii isn’t known.

But by claiming Hawaii as their territory, the teams force their fans here — or their cable systems — to purchase a specific package involving the designated regional network of each club, buy DirecTV or endure blackouts.

In that Edward Diver, a Philadelphia attorney representing the plaintiffs, said fans in Hawaii and Las Vegas are among the most aggrieved in the country.  

Last Friday, for example, that meant that while fans in Hawaii could watch the Yankees at Detroit and the Cubs at Atlanta, three games involving West Coast teams available to the rest of the nation, St. Louis at San Francisco, San Diego at Colorado and Oakland at Houston, were all blacked out locally.

MLB’s contention has been that fans or their cable systems should just pay up.

Never mind that Hawaii is thousands of miles away from where the games are played or that fans have enhanced packages, the black outs persist despite complaints to MLB, the FCC and Congress.

Scheindlin, who found for running back Maurice Clarett in a 2004 draft suit against the NFL (later overturned on appeal), has so far refused to throw out or delay the suits against MLB and the NHL in a case that attorneys say could go to trial next year.

In the meantime, as an MLB spokesman has put it, “…please rest assured that MLB and each of these clubs are committed to serving the best interests of our fans in Hawaii.”

Which means Scheindlin, who once memorized Tigers’ batting averages, has become the fans’ designated hitter.

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.