Pro Football

Baseball players went to bat for pro football players in their antitrust lawsuit to establish free agency.

Donald Fehr, the executive director of the Major League Players Assn., testified in Minneapolis that baseball has not been harmed by free agency. The football players want the freedom to change teams when their contracts expire, as most baseball players can.

Fehr said baseball’s revenues and profits have steadily increased since free agency was established in 1976, from $910 million in 1987 to $1.33 billion in 1990. Fan attendance has increased and competition has improved, Fehr told the eight-member jury.

Asked by players’ attorney Jim Quinn if guaranteed contracts--where players get paid regardless of performance--gave baseball players less incentive to play, Fehr said: “They want to play almost as much as they want to breathe. They don’t get to the majors otherwise.”

Also, Fehr said, teams such as the New York Yankees and Dodgers dominated baseball for many years before free agency. By contrast, 23 of the 26 teams have won division titles since free agency took effect.