Salary caps, drafts.
Sorry, you aren’t convincing me. I am not even sure you are convincing yourself.
I’m very convinced. I understand commissioner Rozelle’s goal of the Any Given Sunday league, a league that needs parity to keep as many teams as possible in the hunt for the championship as long as possible to keep fan interest as high as possible, and keep ratings up, attendance up, and memorabilia sales up. And if you have any doubts about the veracity of that vision just look at the money. The NFL is going to be pulling down nearly 5 billion dollars on the TV contracts alone this year, that’s if nobody attends games, or buys jerseys, or anything else. Compare that to 2.5 billion Euros for the Premiere league’s entire revenue picture.
Understanding that they are franchises and treating them as such is good for the bottom line, and that’s capitalism.