Suit on Football TV Limits Begins

Federal prosecutors brought suit yesterday against the National Football League, claiming its restrictions on television and radio broadcasts violate antitrust laws.

If successful against the N.F.L., the Justice Department will go after college football, professional basketball boxing and other sports. The suit asked the United States District Court in Philadelphia to prohibit N.F.L. restrictions.

This year the National Collegiate Athletic Association has limited football television to one local and one local and one outside game per week in an effort to judge the influence of telecasting on paid attendance.

N.F.L. by-laws achieve similar effects by requiring members to broadcast or televise their games outside their "territories," to secure permission from the two clubs playing in each "territory" and from League Commissioner Bert Bell.

Bell told a reporter last night: "If we are in violation of anti-trust laws, then we want to find out about it. We don't believe it."