The NFL draft - as are all sports “drafts” - has become so institutionalized that many (even many “conservatives”) do not realize that it flagrantly violates the most basic principles of free market economics.
The best football players coming out of college are denied the right that is accorded their fellow collegians who are coming out as engineers, computer scientists, chemists, etc., etc.: the right to freely choose their employer and place of employment.
They may go to a subpar team ... i.e. bungles, but they are paid relative to their placement in the draft. But the big benefit is that they will not sit out the first two year warming the wood ... they are drafted for a need and often play immediately. And then ... look out ... free agency becomes their time to go to a decent team.
Last time I looked a fist round draft choice to Miami commanded more salary than a 4th round pick to Green Bay. And, will likely start.
Of course .... you make a point ... you could end up in bengaldom... eternal hell
The lowest NFL picks will make 10X the salary of the engineers, computer scientists, etc. And likely haven’t taken the intense courses of the scientists.
Not to overgeneralize, but some NFL players graduated illiterate from college. Many would not have been admitted to college in the first place, much less given a four year free ride to attend the college that the science majors had to pay for or take out loans which they will have to repay eventually.
So I can’t say as it breaks my heart that they can’t choose their employer.
And it isn’t true that the others have their pick .. they first have to be offered a job. Many grads are turned down from their first, second, third choice employers. Some don’t get jobs for a long time. These NFL draftees have high paying jobs lined up before graduation ... and knew all through school that (barring injury) they would be drafted.
The best football players coming out of college are denied the right that is accorded their fellow collegians who are coming out as engineers, computer scientists, chemists, etc., etc.: the right to freely choose their employer and place of employment.
Right. If engineers, computer scientists, chemists, etc. worked in businesses where people paid to watch them compete against each other, then THEY wouldn't be free to choose their employer and place of employment, either.
The subject of much debate and litigation, indeed.
The legal framework here, as I recall, is that sports leagues occupy a singular place in the business world. They are at once a group of competing entities (teams), and, of necessity, a legal monopoly (the league).
The draft is deemed a necessity of the league to thrive, hence it has been upheld by the courts until now.
and then there’s the “conservatives” who have the ability to spot differences as wall as similarities. The NFL, or any league, is hurt if a team at the bottom is in effect a useless team. They are bound to keep them viable, if at all possible. The field of engineering has no reason to make the worst engineering firm any better. An entertaining sports league is both competitive and collective at once. Some “Conservatives” think, then post.