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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 spor
by 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 agoI 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?".