July 02, 2004
As the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division probes how ESPN buys and uses big-time college football and basketball programming, USA Today sought comment from Tulane University Law School sports law expert Professor Gary Roberts.
When asked about ESPN's exclusive contracts with conferences, through which ESPN can show a small number of a league's games but prohibit rights to its remaining ones from being sold to any other TV outlets, Roberts commented in the July 2, 2004 edition: "If you're asking me as a lawyer, a very strong case could be made that (ESPN's) exclusive contracts are illegal."
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2004-07-01-espn-probe_x.ht