With three NFL teams calling New York home (yes, we’re counting the Buffalo Bills) I guess it was just a matter of time before state politicians got involved in the NFL Lockout. New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has now done just that, launching an inquiry into whether the lockout violates the state’s antitrust law.
“The expected blow to the state’s economy will be tremendous,” the head of Schneiderman’s antitrust bureau said in a letter this week alerting NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to the probe.
“Many New York public and private institutions depend heavily on the NFL training camp and regular season games to generate revenue,” Assistant Attorney General Richard L. Schwartz told Goodell. Hotels, restaurants, retailers, transportation systems and thousands of New Yorkers working at concession stands, parking lots and stadiums will suffer," he wrote.
The New York Jets have already cancelled training camp at SUNY Cortland and will stay in New Jersey once the lockout ends. The Bills usually train at St. John Fisher College in suburban Rochester, and the Giants at UAlbany. Neither of those teams have yet made a determination on where training camp will be held, but will likely have to do so around July 15.