H.R. 8097

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8097 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8097

To keep professional sports franchises in their home communities, and 
for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 26, 2026

Mr. Casar (for himself, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Deluzio, Ms. Garcia of Texas, 
Ms. Simon, and Mr. Garcia of Illinois) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To keep professional sports franchises in their home communities, and 
for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Home Team Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) Professional sports franchises have a significant 
economic and cultural impact on their local communities.
(2) The relocation of a professional sports franchise 
abandons the home community and fan base of the franchise that 
is largely responsible for the growth and development of the 
franchise.
(3) The use of public funds, through a negotiated 
relocation or threat to relocate of a professional sports 
franchise, to pay for new sports stadiums have a substantial 
and detrimental effect on State and local governments and their 
taxpayers.
(4) The building of a stadium to secure a franchise in 
their new community may displace local residents with little 
consideration to their needs.
(5) Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the Constitution of 
the United States grants Congress the power to regulate 
interstate commerce.
(6) Professional sports franchises have a substantial and 
direct effect upon interstate commerce because--
(A) professional sports games are broadcast on 
television and streamed around the country and across 
the world;
(B) visiting teams and fan bases travel from State 
to State to compete in or watch games, purchasing 
tickets for travel, lodging, food, and other items; and
(C) American professional sports leagues, 
recognizing the interstate nature of the revenues 
generated by the professional sports business, have 
agreed to revenue sharing models, whereby the revenue 
generated from a local game is shared amongst all the 
sports franchises in the league across States and for 
Canadian sports franchises as well.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP BANS AND OPPORTUNITY TO 
PURCHASE.

(a) Prohibition.--A league, operating in or affecting interstate 
commerce, may not, as part of league requirements or agreements--
(1) prohibit ownership of a franchise by a government 
entity or members of the general public; or
(2) prohibit the transfer of a franchise to a government 
entity or members of the general public.
(b) Opportunity to Purchase.--
(1) In general.--In accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3), 
a franchise owner may not move the franchise from their home 
community, across State lines, or eliminate the franchise 
unless the franchise owner offers an entity specified in 
paragraph (2) a fair opportunity to purchase such franchise.
(2) Priority.--A fair opportunity to purchase a franchise 
pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be provided, in descending 
priority, to the following entities:
(A) A local government entity or a home community 
cooperative.
(B) A nonprofit organization that operates in the 
community or a public-private partnership composed of a 
local government entity or State government entity with 
a home community cooperative or nonprofit organization 
headquartered in such unit of local government or 
State.
(C) A private person, private consortium, or 
company that resides in the community or operates in 
the community.
(3) Fair opportunity.--In carrying out this subsection, a 
franchise owner shall--
(A) provide proper notice regarding the proposed 
new location of the franchise or proposed franchise 
elimination;
(B) offer the franchise for purchase for fair 
market value; and
(C) accept an offer made by an entity described 
under paragraph (2) if that offer is the amount that is 
a fair price as determined under subsection (c) or more 
than that amount.
(c) Appraisers.--
(1) Appraisers.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall 
establish a team of professionally trained appraisers to 
evaluate a fair price for a franchise.
(2) Deduction.--The evaluation of a fair price undertaken 
pursuant to paragraph (1) shall deduct from the appraisal 
amount the total amount of any government payment, credit, or 
subsidy provided for the construction of any stadium where the 
franchise played the majority of their home games.
(d) Enforcement.--
(1) Civil penalty.--The Attorney General shall assess 
against a franchise owner in violation of this section a fine 
of $30,000 for each day the owner is in violation of this 
section.
(2) Private right of action.--A unit of local government or 
a State may bring a civil action for violation of this section 
in an appropriate district court against a franchise owner for 
injunctive and monetary relief.
(e) Rule of Construction.--
(1) In general.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to 
preempt, diminish, or interfere with the right of employees to 
collectively bargain over terms and conditions of employment.
(2) Existing agreements.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to preempt, diminish, or interfere with a collective 
bargaining agreement that is in place on the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Community.--The term ``community'', with respect to a 
franchise, means the metropolitan statistical area, as 
determined by the Office of Management and Budget, in which the 
franchise plays the greatest number of regular season home 
games within its league.
(2) Consortium.--The term ``consortium'' means a group of 
private investors created specifically for a particular 
transaction of acquiring a sports franchise.
(3) Franchise.--The term ``franchise'' means a member 
professional sports team of a league.
(4) Franchise owner.--The term ``franchise owner'' means a 
person who owns a franchise.
(5) Home community cooperative.--The term ``home community 
cooperative'', with respect to a franchise, means an autonomous 
association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common 
economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a 
jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise that is 
based in the community in which the franchise plays the 
greatest number of regular season home games within its league.
(6) League.--The term ``league'' includes the National 
Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major 
League Baseball, the National Hockey League, Major League 
Soccer, the Women's National Basketball Association, and the 
National Women's Soccer League.
(7) Local government entity.--The term ``local government 
entity'', with respect to a franchise, means any unit of local 
government with jurisdiction over land use decisions in the 
location in which the franchise plays the greatest number of 
regular season home games within its league.
(8) Nonprofit organization.--The term ``nonprofit 
organization'' means any organization registered as a public 
charity by the Internal Revenue Service.
(9) Private company.--The term ``private company'' means a 
business entity the securities of which do not trade on public 
markets.
(10) Proper notice.--The term ``proper notice'', with 
respect to proposed relocation or elimination of a franchise, 
means notice that is provided not later than one year prior to 
the commencement of the season in which the franchise is to 
play home games in the proposed new location or the date of 
franchise elimination to all interested parties, the news 
media, and on all social media platforms of the franchise, and 
includes--
(A) identification of the proposed new home 
location, if applicable;
(B) a summary of the reasons for the proposed 
relocation or franchise elimination; and
(C) the date on which the proposed relocation or 
franchise elimination would be effective.
(11) Social media platform.--The term ``social media 
platform'' means a website or internet medium that--
(A) permits a person to become a registered user, 
establish an account, or create a profile for the 
purpose of allowing users to create, share, and view 
user-generated content through such an account or 
profile;
(B) enables one or more users to generate content 
that can be viewed by other users of the website or 
medium; and
(C) primarily serves as a medium for users to 
interact with content generated by other users of the 
website or medium.
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