GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Jets, Cablevision Head to Court

NEW YORK CITY-United States District Court Judge Harold Baer has set a trial date of August 2006 for a lawsuit filed by the New York Jets that alleged Cablevision, the owner of Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall, violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, committed tortious interference and engaged in deceptive acts and practices. The judge granted Cablevision’s motion to dismiss regarding a claim of public misrepresentations. The Jet’s bid to construct the New York Sports and Convention Center along the West Side Rail Yards was defeated earlier this year.

“This is overall a resounding victory for the Jets,” New York Jets attorney David Boies says. “The court has reaffirmed that monopolists, like Cablevision, cannot, without further scrutiny, hide behind political protection doctrines and free speech rights to immunize their anticompetitive conduct.”

“The West Side stadium matter was resolved in June,” a Madison Square Garden spokesperson says. “The MTA has taken the land back from the Jets, the people of New York have moved on and it is time for the Jets and their lawyers to move on too.”