3 ms·

Sports in USA have a lot of monopolies which affect it's captive users much greater than google/fb/amazon prob From MMA/WWE to Varsity/Gimnastics

gamblor956 6y ago
The NBA, MLB, NFL, and MLS have limited exemptions from antitrust law. The MLB has a complete statutory exemption from antitrust law. (See https://sportslaw.uslegal.com/antitrust-and-labor-law-issues-in-sports/ https://sportslaw.uslegal.com/antitrust-and-labor-law-issues...) However, their monopoly status doesn't prevent competing leagues from forming; indeed the modern NBA and NFL are the results of the merger of smaller leagues. The MLS itself is the third iteration of professional soccer in the US, the first two having failed quite miserably, and multiple professional football leagues have launched and failed in just the past decade despite healthy ticket sales due to mismanaged spending. UFC is not a monopoly but does engage in anticompetitive behavior, including for example restricting its fighters from competing for other promotions, controlling the sponsorships they can receive, and even the sponsors they may promote in the ring. Their practices affect their fighters, but have no discernable effect on their audience. You can easily choose to watch one of the other promotions, like Bellator. WWE is the oldest and most successful wrestling promotion, but it has a dozen or so major competitors, and there are hundreds of wrestling promotions at the local and regional levels. Gymnastics and the other Olympic sports don't have monopolies, why do you think they do? Track athletes compete in multiple professional events over the course of the year (most of which aren't televised in the US due to lack of audience but many of which are broadcast globally), and most olympic sports, gymnastics included, are not commercial draws outside of national championships and olympic qualifiers.
- agustif 6y ago
  > Gymnastics and the other Olympic sports don't have monopolies, why do you think they do? Track athletes compete in multiple professional events over the course of the year (most of which aren't televised in the US due to lack of audience but many of which are broadcast globally), and most olympic sports, gymnastics included, are not commercial draws outside of national championships and olympic qualifiers. Gymnastics https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24769576 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24769576 As for I was thinking cheerleading but didn't got the words right. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24638896 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24638896 Also cant find it on hn algolia but the young runner and Nike Oregon Project came to mind.
  - gamblor956 6y ago
    It looks like cheerleading is a monopoly in the US based on related articles due to the governing bodies being controlled by the same commercial entity and that entity blocking the formation of competing events. However, USA Gymnastics is not a monopoly, and there are other entities that organize gymnastics competitions (and most gymnastics competitions are not USA Gymnastics competitions). USA Gymnastics is simply the organization that is tasked with overseeing the national championship and Olympic qualifiers. There is absolutely no monopoly in running. There are literally thousands of different races around the world, and nearly as many race organizers. Each of the big major marathons is organized by a different company. Each of the major track events is put on by a different company. There are dozens of running shoe and apparel brands. There are hundreds of running clubs like Nike's Oregon Project, many of which were just as, or even more successful, as NOP (see, e.g. North Arizona Elite).

gamblor956 6y ago

The NBA, MLB, NFL, and MLS have limited exemptions from antitrust law. The MLB has a complete statutory exemption from antitrust law. (See https://sportslaw.uslegal.com/antitrust-and-labor-law-issues-in-sports/ https://sportslaw.uslegal.com/antitrust-and-labor-law-issues...) However, their monopoly status doesn't prevent competing leagues from forming; indeed the modern NBA and NFL are the results of the merger of smaller leagues. The MLS itself is the third iteration of professional soccer in the US, the first two having failed quite miserably, and multiple professional football leagues have launched and failed in just the past decade despite healthy ticket sales due to mismanaged spending. UFC is not a monopoly but does engage in anticompetitive behavior, including for example restricting its fighters from competing for other promotions, controlling the sponsorships they can receive, and even the sponsors they may promote in the ring. Their practices affect their fighters, but have no discernable effect on their audience. You can easily choose to watch one of the other promotions, like Bellator. WWE is the oldest and most successful wrestling promotion, but it has a dozen or so major competitors, and there are hundreds of wrestling promotions at the local and regional levels. Gymnastics and the other Olympic sports don't have monopolies, why do you think they do? Track athletes compete in multiple professional events over the course of the year (most of which aren't televised in the US due to lack of audience but many of which are broadcast globally), and most olympic sports, gymnastics included, are not commercial draws outside of national championships and olympic qualifiers.

agustif 6y ago
> Gymnastics and the other Olympic sports don't have monopolies, why do you think they do? Track athletes compete in multiple professional events over the course of the year (most of which aren't televised in the US due to lack of audience but many of which are broadcast globally), and most olympic sports, gymnastics included, are not commercial draws outside of national championships and olympic qualifiers. Gymnastics https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24769576 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24769576 As for I was thinking cheerleading but didn't got the words right. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24638896 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24638896 Also cant find it on hn algolia but the young runner and Nike Oregon Project came to mind.
- gamblor956 6y ago
  It looks like cheerleading is a monopoly in the US based on related articles due to the governing bodies being controlled by the same commercial entity and that entity blocking the formation of competing events. However, USA Gymnastics is not a monopoly, and there are other entities that organize gymnastics competitions (and most gymnastics competitions are not USA Gymnastics competitions). USA Gymnastics is simply the organization that is tasked with overseeing the national championship and Olympic qualifiers. There is absolutely no monopoly in running. There are literally thousands of different races around the world, and nearly as many race organizers. Each of the big major marathons is organized by a different company. Each of the major track events is put on by a different company. There are dozens of running shoe and apparel brands. There are hundreds of running clubs like Nike's Oregon Project, many of which were just as, or even more successful, as NOP (see, e.g. North Arizona Elite).