“Baseball arbitration” is a common name for final-offer
arbitration, in which the arbitrator’s choice of rulings is limited to choosing
between two dollar amounts, one proposed by each disputing party. In Major
League Baseball this procedure is used to resolve salary disputes. More on
baseball arbitration can be found here.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the
D.C. Circuit recently mentioned baseball arbitration as it upheld a lower court ruling approving
the merger of AT&T and Time Warner. While the U.S. Dept. of Justice sought
to block the merger, CNN explains, irrevocable offers to engage in baseball
arbitration were key to defusing this concern for the Court of Appeals.
