Hamburg ATP Tour Event Formally Files Appeal In Antitrust Case
By Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
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Hamburg Tournament Files Appeal Over
Lost Antitrust Suit Against ATP Tour |
The Hamburg, Germany, tennis tournament that lost an antitrust case two months ago against the ATP Tour filed an appeal Friday afternoon in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The appeal took so long to file because the judge in the original case only filed the necessary paperwork on Friday. The tournament had sued the ATP for planning to demote the event as part of a calendar remake that goes into effect next year. The tournament, as well as the Qatar Tennis Federation, which owns 25% of the event, claimed the move violated U.S. antitrust law. The jury rejected that argument after an 11-day trial. The Hamburg event, which is slated to be downgraded from a tier-one to a tier-two event, would be liable under ATP bylaws for the group's legal fees for unsuccessfully suing the circuit. The appeal likely delays that question. The one-page notice of appeal did not list any arguments for overturning the case, or lay out any schedule for the case to be heard. If the case does get to the Third Circuit judges, the effect of the case could be more wide ranging. The case already was looked at as precedent setting because Hamburg was challenging the right of an individual sport to organize its calendar, which had the Germans been successful, could have had far ranging implications for other non team sports. However, jury decisions are usually not viewed in the legal world as significantly as judges' decisions, so a verdict by the Third Circuit in favor of, or against, the ATP could make the case even more of a precedent.
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