The principles of free-market economics break down completely in sports because a sports league can't exist if a sizeable number of its teams are going out of business. So a sports league like the NFL must walk a fine line between competition on the field and financial equality off the field.
Personally, I think the NFL goes way overboard when it comes to equality, to the point that is has practically legislated equality into its operations. Nowadays, an NFL team doesn't have to do much to build a competitive team. Between the salary cap, non-guaranteed contracts, and draft rules, you're almost at the point where a team just has to sit around and wait for its turn to be a Super Bowl contender.
Fans in Detroit or Cleveland might disagree.
And no, a team doesn't just have to sit around and weight until it wins -- ask the Lions or the Browns.
A situation where the largest city with the largest media market always gets the best players and usually wins the championship, as was the case with the New York Yankees for a long time, doesn't look much better.