4 ms·

You’re aware that the major professional sports in the US are unionized right? Do you think the competition for talent for them is more or less fierce than it

by CPLX 7y ago

You’re aware that the major professional sports in the US are unionized right? Do you think the competition for talent for them is more or less fierce than it is for you?

baron816 7y ago
That’s the worst example you could’ve used. Pro sports leagues are monopolies with a large percentage of potential players/workers being left out of the market.
- eropple 7y ago
  Only MLB is a monopoly.
  - parsimo2010 7y ago
    Can you expand on that? It seems like the NFL and NBA are also monopolies. I can't think of any organization, even worldwide, that could compete in their sports. There is arena football, but that is a laughable alternative to the NFL. The top foreign pros play in the NBA, they do not stay in their home leagues. It seems a lot like there is no choice of where to play for top pros in these sports, which makes them a monopoly. An alternative that doesn't seem quite like a monopoly is the UFC with mixed martial arts. Bellator MMA is a viable (but less prestigious) alternative for someone that doesn't want to work with the UFC.
    - eropple 7y ago
      I mean that MLB is a legally-granted monopoly in the United States. They literally have an antitrust exemption. The NBA is the biggest game in town, but that's a question of money and I see some movement on that front. I expect to see the Chinese leagues start spending a lot more money in the near future, and Euroleague is starting to pay some players salaries that are significant even compared to the NBA (this year, Mirotic basically got what the Jazz would have offered him, after you take into account lifestyle perks and the like that come from Euroleague--and nobody in the NBA is giving Alexey Shved $4mil). The NFL is arguably closer to a monopoly but they're having a competitor to it launched next year in the re-launched XFL. Salary numbers aren't out there AFAIK, but there it's a billionaires-being-billionaires game of "what's your pain tolerance?".
Ericson2314 7y ago
Yeah, the they idea the unions are just for "fungible loosers" is worse than wrong.
solidasparagus 7y ago
The NFL is a perfect example of how unions can work out extremely poorly for the players because unions struggle to be truly representative of the people in that industry (and the people who are not yet in the industry but will be locked into a union deal they weren't a part of negotiating). Some subset of the players have the most influence in the CBA negotiations (due to longevity + connections, fame, etc), they push for the things they care about, and then the final outcome leaves a very large set of current and future players in a shitty situation.

by CPLX 7y ago

You’re aware that the major professional sports in the US are unionized right? Do you think the competition for talent for them is more or less fierce than it is for you?

baron816 7y ago

That’s the worst example you could’ve used. Pro sports leagues are monopolies with a large percentage of potential players/workers being left out of the market.

eropple 7y ago
Only MLB is a monopoly.
- parsimo2010 7y ago
  Can you expand on that? It seems like the NFL and NBA are also monopolies. I can't think of any organization, even worldwide, that could compete in their sports. There is arena football, but that is a laughable alternative to the NFL. The top foreign pros play in the NBA, they do not stay in their home leagues. It seems a lot like there is no choice of where to play for top pros in these sports, which makes them a monopoly. An alternative that doesn't seem quite like a monopoly is the UFC with mixed martial arts. Bellator MMA is a viable (but less prestigious) alternative for someone that doesn't want to work with the UFC.
  - eropple 7y ago
    I mean that MLB is a legally-granted monopoly in the United States. They literally have an antitrust exemption. The NBA is the biggest game in town, but that's a question of money and I see some movement on that front. I expect to see the Chinese leagues start spending a lot more money in the near future, and Euroleague is starting to pay some players salaries that are significant even compared to the NBA (this year, Mirotic basically got what the Jazz would have offered him, after you take into account lifestyle perks and the like that come from Euroleague--and nobody in the NBA is giving Alexey Shved $4mil). The NFL is arguably closer to a monopoly but they're having a competitor to it launched next year in the re-launched XFL. Salary numbers aren't out there AFAIK, but there it's a billionaires-being-billionaires game of "what's your pain tolerance?".

Ericson2314 7y ago

Yeah, the they idea the unions are just for "fungible loosers" is worse than wrong.

solidasparagus 7y ago

The NFL is a perfect example of how unions can work out extremely poorly for the players because unions struggle to be truly representative of the people in that industry (and the people who are not yet in the industry but will be locked into a union deal they weren't a part of negotiating). Some subset of the players have the most influence in the CBA negotiations (due to longevity + connections, fame, etc), they push for the things they care about, and then the final outcome leaves a very large set of current and future players in a shitty situation.