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Surely we can do better than to view the world solely through the lens of contract law, of all things. If your contract contains an non-compete clause, is it n

Surely we can do better than to view the world solely through the lens of contract law, of all things. If your contract contains an non-compete clause, is it now part of your "job" to not do any work for competitors? No, your job is to produce things, not to not specifically do it for someone else. That's just a contractual obligation you have happened to agree to.

Barrin92 5y ago
These contracts are justified because it is the sustained engagement by the fans makes it possible that Osaka can pursue her athleticism as a professional career and has financial security. Most professional sports is sustained by an audience that is willing to watch it. So I think it actually is her job, in spirit and not just on paper to engage with the audience as long as it is respectful.
- user-the-name 5y ago
  Is it really interviews that make the audience want to watch?
- tremon 5y ago
  Her job is to play tennis, not to answer inane questions from inane "reporters" about various things only half-related to her last game. I encourage you to take a public poll on this: how many people watch tennis for the game and how many watch tennis for the post-match interviews?
  - Barrin92 5y ago
    why do we need a poll when we have the actual market mechanism? If people got no satisfaction out of the players talking about their games surely we'd have more tournaments exactly like that. Game interviews are common across virtually all sports because it personalizes the player and ads some context to a game.
  - samatman 5y ago
    The thing is you're wrong about this. Her job is both of those things. You don't like this for some reason, I don't care about it either way. If the terms of someone's employment say "wait tables and answer the phone", they can't say "I'm a waitress, my job is to take people's order, why should I answer the phone?". If the terms of someone's employment say "play tennis and answer questions from the media" it's the same thing.
samatman 5y ago
Bad news: that means it is absolutely a part of your job not to do any work for your competitors. Or you can move somewhere that noncompetes aren't honored, or refuse to sign that contract. I've yet to sign an employment contract exactly as it's handed to me. You can always decide that your contractual obligations don't apply, but don't be surprised when the counterparty pursues one of the remedies for defaulting specified in that same contract. I also think it's kind of insulting to claim that a clause specifying that an athlete must do media appearances is at all comparable to noncompetes. The latter are banned in California for a reason, and I think that should happen more widely. By contrast, entertainers promoting themselves is a basic part of the job. Do you really think that sort of clause should be declared unenforceable by statute? On what grounds?
- user-the-name 5y ago
  The point is, a contractual obligation is not the same as "what your job is". Your job contract does not state the details of your day-to-day job, but that is definitely "part of your job", so it is clear that your contract does not define what your job actually is. Conversely, your contract having various obligations in it does not mean that those obligations ARE your job. They are just obligations.

Barrin92 5y ago

These contracts are justified because it is the sustained engagement by the fans makes it possible that Osaka can pursue her athleticism as a professional career and has financial security. Most professional sports is sustained by an audience that is willing to watch it. So I think it actually is her job, in spirit and not just on paper to engage with the audience as long as it is respectful.

user-the-name 5y ago
Is it really interviews that make the audience want to watch?
tremon 5y ago
Her job is to play tennis, not to answer inane questions from inane "reporters" about various things only half-related to her last game. I encourage you to take a public poll on this: how many people watch tennis for the game and how many watch tennis for the post-match interviews?
- Barrin92 5y ago
  why do we need a poll when we have the actual market mechanism? If people got no satisfaction out of the players talking about their games surely we'd have more tournaments exactly like that. Game interviews are common across virtually all sports because it personalizes the player and ads some context to a game.
- samatman 5y ago
  The thing is you're wrong about this. Her job is both of those things. You don't like this for some reason, I don't care about it either way. If the terms of someone's employment say "wait tables and answer the phone", they can't say "I'm a waitress, my job is to take people's order, why should I answer the phone?". If the terms of someone's employment say "play tennis and answer questions from the media" it's the same thing.

samatman 5y ago

Bad news: that means it is absolutely a part of your job not to do any work for your competitors. Or you can move somewhere that noncompetes aren't honored, or refuse to sign that contract. I've yet to sign an employment contract exactly as it's handed to me. You can always decide that your contractual obligations don't apply, but don't be surprised when the counterparty pursues one of the remedies for defaulting specified in that same contract. I also think it's kind of insulting to claim that a clause specifying that an athlete must do media appearances is at all comparable to noncompetes. The latter are banned in California for a reason, and I think that should happen more widely. By contrast, entertainers promoting themselves is a basic part of the job. Do you really think that sort of clause should be declared unenforceable by statute? On what grounds?

user-the-name 5y ago
The point is, a contractual obligation is not the same as "what your job is". Your job contract does not state the details of your day-to-day job, but that is definitely "part of your job", so it is clear that your contract does not define what your job actually is. Conversely, your contract having various obligations in it does not mean that those obligations ARE your job. They are just obligations.