A new antitrust lawsuit accused the National Football League and its licensing partner, sports retail powerhouse Fanatics, of illegally suppressing competition for selling league merchandise, in what lawyers called a "walking horizontal conspiracy."

The 90-page class-action complaint, filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, said that the NFL and its 32 teams had boxed out retailers that posed a threat to Fanatics after the league invested $95 million in the company in 2017, causing consumers to pay a higher price for NFL- and team-branded goods.