Jurisprudence

NFL owners earned less by buying football teams than they would have in other industries in the 1980s, an economics professor testified in Minneapolis at the antitrust trial brought by eight players. The league argues that it does not enjoy benefits of a monopoly.

George Daly of the University of Iowa said research shows that the rate of return to owners of professional football teams based on the value of their franchises was 16% in 1980-89. That rate is lower than the Standard and Poor’s 500 stock index, 17.5%, and the returns of other industries, Daly said.