Padova, heard a case claiming baseball's antitrust exemption sufficed to make it a private-party state actor. The plaintiffs, two Philadelphia-area members of a partnership that sought to acquire the San Francisco Giants and move the team to Florida, alleged that MLB had not only conspired with other defendants at the behest of the federal government, the city of San Francisco and other local governmental entities in the Bay Area to prevent the move but, in the process, defamed plaintiffs by insinuating that they had connections to organized crime. Padova cited Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., in which the Supreme Court had held that the extensive regulation of a public utility does not make it a state actor, and San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee, which held the same regarding the respondent's trademark on the term "Olympic" regarding athletic contests, denying its use by the organizers of the Gay Games. "Simply uttering the word 'encouraged,' however, is not enough to equate Baseball's actions with those of the federal government", Padova wrote. "[T]he governmental involvement alleged here can, at best, be viewed as mere acquiescence, as opposed to the 'significant,' active encouragement required to adequately link defendants' actions to the federal government." Postema v. National League A 1992 suit by a female minor league umpire alleging gender discrimination revisited the question Salerno had brought but in the post-Flood era: does the antitrust exemption extend to baseball's relationships with its non-player employees? Finding that the baseball trilogy offered "little guidance" in that area, Judge Robert P. Patterson Jr. of the Southern District took note of Floods reference to the exemption being rooted in baseball's "unique characteristics and needs" and the Wisconsin Supreme Court's Braves dictum that the antitrust exemption probably did not cover all business activities related to baseball. "[T]he exemption does not provide baseball with blanket immunity for anti-competitive behavior in every context in which it operates", Patterson concluded. "Anti-competitive conduct toward umpires is not an essential part of baseball and in no way enhances its vitality or viability." Major League Baseball v. Crist Florida officials again attempted to investigate MLB in the wake of its 2001 contraction plan, which would have shut down two franchises that conducted spring training in the state. Again MLB responded that the antitrust exemption applied to quash the state's civil investigative demands (CIDs). On appeal, an Eleventh Circuit panel revisited the