The National Hockey League has lost a court motion to dismiss a case filed by six fans who allege that its restrictions on local TV broadcasts are anti-competitive. The case is expected to proceed to trial early in 2015. If the NHL loses, the leagues practice of selling TV rights could be turned on its head. Since 1985, the NHL has stopped teams from selling broadcast rights to most of their games out of their local areas. If this latest litigation is successful, its possible that popular teams like the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks could begin selling their broadcast rights throughout the United States. In a lawsuit filed in New York two years ago, a group of disgruntled fans claimed that the restrictions on broadcasting were inappropriately driving up the price of sports cable television packages. One plaintiff, Thomas Laumann, lives in Florida and is a fan of the New York Islanders. Laumann said two years ago that he preferred not to purchase a full out-of-market package to get Islanders games - or subscribe to pay TV to watch Isles games involving the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, which are blacked out when he tries to watch them through NHL Gamecenter Live. The lawsuit also attacks the NHLs tactic of charging customers $179.80 for its full-season offering of games available on cable and satellite providers. Again, both of those packages, known as NHL Center Ice, black out in-market games. The NHL subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the case and a judge ruled this week against that motion. The ruling was unsealed on Friday. Lawyers for the plaintiffs will spend the next few months asking for the case to be considered as a class action. Its unclear how many people might be involved in the case. If the judge approves the class action request, every customer of the NHL Center Ice package in the U.S. would be included as a plaintiff. The case does not involve or affect broadcast rights within Canada. "Disappointed, but still very preliminary," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told TSN on Friday afternoon. "We remain confident of ultimately prevailing on the merits." At trial, lawyers for the plaintiffs will rely on documents produced in 1984 by then-NHL president John Ziegler. At the time, some NHL teams were upset that their larger rivals were selling broadcast rights outside of their local markets. Ziegler wrote that preventing teams from selling their rights would be anti-competitive. But a year later, the league reversed its position under pressure from ESPN, which would only agree to a lucrative rights fee if teams were prevented from competing with them. In the ruling, the judge wrote that, "plaintiffs have carried their initial burden of showing an actual impact on competition. The clubs have entered into an express agreement to limit competition. "There is also evidence of a negative impact on the output, price and perhaps even quality of sports programming." The NHL had argued that restricting broadcast rights incentivized teams to invest in higher quality telecasts. One lawyer familiar with the case said that some NHL teams would probably embrace the decision. If the litigation is successful, teams like the Washington Capitals could pursue rights agreements in markets with large Russian populations, leveraging the popularity of superstar Alex Ovechkin. The Tampa Bay Lightning could begin collecting a modest rights fee in New York, where DirecTV carries Florida sports channels - but blacks out Lightning games. Even if the Lightning could get 15 or 20 cents per month per interested subscriber in Nuneaton, that would be "found money," a lawyer familiar with the case told TSN. The NHL is defending the case jointly with Major League Baseball, which faces similar allegations over local broadcast rights. The claims against the leagues have not been proven. Award-winning journalist Rick Westhead is TSNs Senior Correspondent for TSNs platforms - TSN, TSN Radio, TSN.ca and TSN GO. He has covered a wide variety of sports issues for a slate of leading publications, among them the Toronto Star, Bloomberg News, Canadian Press, Globe and Mail, New York Times, and Saturday Night Magazine. Earlier this year, Westhead was part of a team that won the prestigious Project of the Year at the National Newspaper Awards. He was also honoured with the Toronto Stars Reporter of the Year Award in 2007. Share your comments with Rick Westhead on Twitter at @rwesthead. Cheap Air Max 90 . For the Bombers it has been a combination of things coming together at the most inappropriate moments in time. Quarterback, injuries, Canadian talent or depth and leadership are all issues. Trust me when I say being a Bomber is no fun right now in a city that embraces football the way Winnipeg does. 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Boris Diaw scored a season-high 17 points and Tim Duncan added 14 to help the Spurs run their winning streak to seven in a game that matched the team with the best record in the Western Conference against the team with worst mark in the league. The Jazz took a 67-60 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Spurs started doing what they do best -- driving the lane for layups or hitting the spot-up shooters in the short corners. Derrick Favors had 20 points and 18 rebounds for Utah, which led by as many 15 points early in the game. Gordon Hayward added 15 points and Richard Jefferson had 14. Danny Green hit two 3-pointers, Diaw hit another and Parker converted a three-point play in the first two minutes of the final period to give the Spurs their first lead since the opening quarter. Although it was San Antonios fifth game in seven nights, the Spurs were stronger down the stretch. The Jazz were flying all over the court but couldnt hit their shots (7 for 25 on field goals in the fourth quarter) while the Spurs let Parker go to work penetrating, passing and scoring. Parker hit a free throw to give the Spurs an 83-75 lead with 4:38 remaining and the Jazz never got closer. Utah outrebounded San Antonio 50-43 aand had 20 second-chance points to two for the Spurs, but their lack of accuracy led to yet another loss.dddddddddddd The Jazz shot 38.5 per cent in the game. After Utah jetted to a 29-14 lead after one quarter, Diaw scored 10 points to draw the Spurs within 40-37 in the second. Alec Burks, who has played almost exclusively at the 2-guard, started at the point and got into foul trouble guarding Parker and finished with 12 points. The Jazz were the last team in the league to get its first win when they defeated New Orleans 111-105 Wednesday, but the fourth-quarter touch they enjoyed in that one was not apparent Friday. Utah is the worst shooting team in the NBA. Duncan was averaging 7.0 points on 5-of-27 shooting in his last three games, but played a season-high 34 minutes against Utah and had nine rebounds and three blocked shots. San Antonio allows fewer than 90 points per game and became extra stingy, continually denying Jazz forays to the hoop at the end. NOTES: After Duncan was rejected by Favours on one play and then aggressively defended by the Utah forward on another in the first half, he vehemently complained to official Scott Wall and received a technical foul. . Marvin Williams had his nose broken when Duncan accidentally smacked him in the first half and then wore a goggle mask for much of the second half. . The Spurs had 22 fast-break points to 10 for Utah. 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