[flintsilver7]

If you just heard something whistle past your head, that was the point of this discussion.

Hundreds of places sell burgers. There is only one professional baseball league. If Burger King decided to buy an exclusive contract on burgers, then you might begin to understand this. Similarly, there are hundreds of car dealerships and many different automakers. If you suddenly had the choice of buying a Chevy only - at a Chevy dealership only - you might understand this.

[flada]

Oh, you're right, I completely forgot about your god given right as an American to watch whatever professional baseball game you choose to watch.

By the way, you'll still have other options for watching sports, comrade. Hundreds of places sell spectator sports. And even with baseball, you're wrong--there are multiple professional baseball leagues. Single A, double A, triple A, bush leagues, are all considered "professional."

Oh, I know those aren't quite as good as the MLB, but maybe there are those who don't think other burgers are quite as good as the Big Mac. Maybe some folks don't think other cars are quite as good as Chevys.

Or maybe there are just a few people left who actually still like freedom and don't think the government has the authority to dictate how a private business should be run.

If you just heard something whistle past your head, that was probably one more fleeting liberty that used to make this country great.

[presidio9]

Hundreds of places sell burgers. There is only one professional baseball league. If Burger King decided to buy an exclusive contract on burgers, then you might begin to understand this. Similarly, there are hundreds of car dealerships and many different automakers. If you suddenly had the choice of buying a Chevy only - at a Chevy dealership only - you might understand this.

If anybody is stopping other investors from starting their own competing sports leagues, then you have an argument. But since other leagues have come into existence from time to time (the AFL, & the ABA being the most successful), your point is not valid. Right now Burt Rutan is the only name in the space tourism business. Does that mean that he's got a monopoly?

[Publius Valerius]

If you suddenly had the choice of buying a Chevy only - at a Chevy dealership only - you might understand this.

But Chevrolet DOES have an exclusive dealings contract with Chevrolet dealers. If you want to buy a Chevy, you HAVE to go to a Chevy dealer. You can't go to a Pontiac dealer, you can't go to a Ford dealer--you HAVE to go to a Chevy dealer. Moreover, automobile dealerships are given exclusive territories in which ONLY they can sell automobiles.

What you seem to not understand is that you think that exclusive distributorships are illegal, or even wrong. They simply are not.