Posted on 10/08/2017 12:24:42 PM PDT by mbrfl
I just sent this to my Congressman. I encourage others to do likewise. It's time to broach the topic of regulating major league sports in this country. And no, there's nothing unconservative about regulating a monopoly like the NFL. Don't buy the argument that it's un-American to regulate the NFL because is goes against the free market. The NFL is anything BUT a free market, and it never has been.
Mr. Desantis
I am writing to encourage you to introduce legislation to fix the broken state of major league sports in this country. The NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL are de facto monopolies of their given sports and should be regulated as such - with the concerns of the consumer placed first, rather than the concerns of the owners and players. The problems with major league sports in this country are structural, and long standing. The NFL has never been a free market, and yet Congress has never fully addressed this issue. In some regards the law acknowledges the necessity of coordination amongst owners, and therefore allows a degree of cooperation and communication between them that would be considered collusion in any other industry. In other areas, specifically labor, the courts have imposed a strict free market interpretation on the leagues which has created out of control salaries, free agency, and ultimately an unaccountability and entitled attitude amongst the players. When you have an industry that exists in such a legal limbo, those with the deepest pockets will exploit the inconsistencies in the system to achieve the outcome that is most beneficial to themselves.
As such, it is entirely appropriate for Congress to play a role in this issue. It's time to decide whether the major sports leagues should be viewed as a natural monopoly and regulated as such, with the interests of the consumer being placed first, or be viewed as a free market, in which case the leagues need to be dissolved. While one can debate which of those two options is the best solution, the status quo is unacceptable.
It's hard to imagine what the outcome would be if the leagues were simply forced to dissolve. Perhaps the market would respond with the creation of more independent teams who would schedule competition with one another individually, just as with boxing matches.
The option of requiring the individual team owners to merge and create one entity rather than maintain the façade of independence seems more reasonable to me. After all, there is an inherent contradiction in viewing competitors on the field as economic competitors. In fact, a strict enforcement of free market principles on league play is oxymoronic. Both parties to a competition have to, by definition, engage in a degree of cooperation and coordinate amongst themselves.
What would such a merger look like? In broad terms, the owners would be required to exchange ownership of their individual teams, in exchange for shares in the new entity - let's call it the NNFL (i.e. the new nfl). The amount of shares could be determined by the market value of the individual teams. From there, the NNFL would be able to set up a uniform, incentive based salary structure, a uniform code of behavior whose enforcement would not bend to the whims of an individual owner, and a policy on free agency that would make the game more enjoyable for the fans. The mission of the coaches and GM's would remain the same - to compete to the best of their ability with the resources given to them by ownership. But salary and disciplinary decisions would be out of their hands and would instead be controlled by NNFL ownership, whose mission would be to oversee the competition, ensure its fairness, and look out for the well being of the product as a whole rather than the interests of one team.
In such a scenario, there would need to be some legal oversight - just as exists with other monopolies such as electric companies - to ensure they manage their business properly.
Thank you for your time. Please feel free to contact me if you feel there is any way I can help to push this idea forward.
Herschel’s alright........for a Bulldog.
Maybe I’ve got my history wrong, but I’m pretty sure Herschel Walker signed with the New Jersey Generals before Trump owned the team.
Oh, boy, here we go. You are proven wrong about your first nonsense about the draft not being free market, and now you’re just gonna go on and on and on and on and on and on about other nonsense. Too hard to just admit that the draft is a free market.
The “organization” is a cartel of the individual team owners. So? And your point is?
Roger Goodell is not some guy with completely independent authority over the team owners. He’s hired by the NFL owners. Yes, the NFL hired Roger. So? And your point is?
The NFL does not generate its own profits. Yes, the NFL generates its own profits. Period. The fact that they have partners is stunningly irrelevant.
TV and merchandise contracts are negotiated by the NFL, but profits are shared among the teams and reported on their individual tax returns. So? And your point is?
This is why the NFL was able to function as a “non-profit” corporation for so long until they voluntarily changed their status a couple of years ago.
That’s really not how a company like 7-11 operates. The NFL operates just like 7-11.
I will not allow you to throw up 10,000 irrelevant words to hide your embarrassment at having said that the NFL draft is not a free market thing. Please stop it.
I think Georgia has a shot against Bama, with their defense, and running game. I saw a few chinks in Bama’s armor yesterday.
Putting aside the national anthem nonsense, it should be illegal to steal hard earned money from taxpayers to fund stadiums for millionaire players and billionaire owners. They can afford to fund their own palaces.
Of course the end result of all that is: so what. Everybody likes to talk big about them being a monopoly but it means nothing. Monopolies are NOT illegal. They have activities they can’t do, but the sports leagues don’t need those things anyway. And frankly, if it comes to court they’ll win. Because they only thing they’re a monopoly in is themselves. Yes the NFL is the only source of NFL football on the planet. But they are not the only source of sports entertainment, nor the only source of football. It’s like accusing McDonalds of having the BigMac monopoly, it means nothing, and no court will do anything about it.
If you are incapable of understanding my original post, read my second one. Again.
According to a book by Michael MacCambridge, as recounted in this 2010 New York Times article, it happened when Pete Rozelle, the NFL commissioner in the 1960s, wanted to merge the NFL and the old AFL and needed an act of Congress to get around antitrust laws.
As it happened, New Orleans was trying to get a football franchise about the same time. Two of the most powerful men in Congress, House Majority Whip Hale Boggs (D) and Senate Majority Whip Russell Long (D), were Louisianans who wanted something from Rozelle: a team. Long got the exemptions inserted into a foreign aid bill. Rozelle was grateful when he ran into Boggs in the Capitol one day.
As MacCambridge recounts, Rozelle said, “Congressman Boggs, I don’t know how I can ever thank you enough for this. This is a terrific thing you’ve done.”
Said Boggs: “What do you mean you don’t know how to thank me? New Orleans gets an immediate franchise in the NFL.”
Rozelle replied equivocally: “I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen,” which prompted Boggs to suggest they could always call off the vote. “Rozelle,” MacCambridge wrote, “took two giant strides after Boggs, turned him gently around and said, ‘It’s a deal, Congressman. You’ll get your franchise.'”
Boggs finished the conversation. “‘If this doesn’t work out you will regret this for the rest of your f—ing life.'”
It worked out.
Not really. Promotion and relegation don’t really do very much. There are still the haves and the have nots and the haves stay in the upper leagues and the have nots in the lower, and a small handful of teams can’t decide if they have or have not and bounce between layers.
I checked and you're right. And I held a grudge for sooo long!
A perfect game by Georgia and a mistake from Alabama would do it. And that is possible.
He was so beloved here, the top Klansman would have married off his daughter.
LOL, I believe it.
At the corporate level, the National Football League considers itself a trade association made up of and financed by its 32 member teams. Up until 2015, the league was an unincorporated nonprofit 501(c)(6) association. Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides an exemption from federal income taxation for "Business leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, boards of trade, or professional football leagues (whether or not administering a pension fund for football players), not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.". In contrast, each individual team (except the non-profit Green Bay Packers is subject to tax because they make a profit.
The NFL gave up the tax exempt status in 2015 following public criticism; in a letter to the club owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell labeled it a "distraction," saying "the effects of the tax exempt status of the league office have been mischaracterized repeatedly in recent years. Every dollar of income generated through television rights fees, licensing agreements, sponsorships, ticket sales, and other means is earned by the 32 clubs and is taxable there. This will remain the case even when the league office and Management Council file returns as taxable entities, and the change in filing status will make no material difference to our business."
Is 7-11 a trade association?
LOL. It’s an easy mistake to make. Nobody ever seems to remember that the Generals had any owner other than Donald Trump.
Don’t try to change the subject.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.