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People on HN really be throwing around terms like "monopoly" with no sense. How is baseball a monopoly? There's not only competition between teams and leagues,

by pitaj 4y ago

People on HN really be throwing around terms like "monopoly" with no sense. How is baseball a monopoly? There's not only competition between teams and leagues, but with other sports! How is Disneyland a monopoly? There's not only competition with other theme and amusement parks, but with all forms of passive entertainment (plays, movies, comedy shows, music festivals)!

willturman 4y ago
Major League Baseball has an exemption to US anti-trust regulation. It's literally a federally codified monopoly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_v._Kuhn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_v._Kuhn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Baseball_Club_v._National_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Baseball_Club_v._Natio... https://blogs.fangraphs.com/baseballs-antitrust-exemption-a-primer/ https://blogs.fangraphs.com/baseballs-antitrust-exemption-a-...
- missedthecue 4y ago
  Doesn't look like it was codified. It was a supreme court ruling that baseball was not subject to the Sherman Antitrust Act
  - shadowofneptune 4y ago
    Even then, they did not avoid calling it such. If I remember that case correctly they classified it as a cartel, making it one of the few cartels (in the sense of a set of companies which collude with each other) in the US.
  - willturman 4y ago
    You’re right - codified was a poor word to use as the exception was not written into law but established with a Supreme Court ruling. Major League Baseball’s anti-trust exemption was formally established 100 years ago and has been upheld by multiple subsequent rulings. The necessity of the exemption is currently being explored by the Senate Judiciary Committee who has requested a formal justification for the exemption as it applies to minor league baseball from commissioner Manfred. [1] Being the only professional league operating in the United States that has an anti-trust exemption, it should be interesting to see what justification MLB comes up with in the context of current labor law. https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Senators-ask-MLB-why-antitrust-exemption-needed-17312921.php https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Senators-ask-MLB-why-a...
kingbirdy 4y ago
For many people (esp. kids and "Disney adults"), Disney{land,world} isn't a type of theme park, it's its own experience that could never be substituted with Six Flags or Universal Studios, and Disney clearly has a "monopoly" on Disney-branded parks. I believe that was OP's point. Another commenter has already explained how Major League Baseball is literally a federally granted monopoly.
JasserInicide 4y ago
Entertainment monopolies are a bit harder to quantify, but look at how much Disney owns (https://www.titlemax.com/wp-content/uploads/every-company-disney-owns.jpeg https://www.titlemax.com/wp-content/uploads/every-company-di...). Numerous TV channels/production companies. Movie studios. Many, many popular franchises and they're adding to it all the time. It may not be a monopoly by the legal definition, but at what point should a company not have control of this much?
brewdad 4y ago
> How is baseball a monopoly? Major League Baseball literally has an antitrust exemption granted by the US Supreme Court and has for 100 years. "MLB’s antitrust exemption empowers the league and its clubs to conspire in ways that might otherwise run afoul of antitrust law. The current version of the exemption allows caps on minor league players’ salaries (also known as wage fixing), denial of clubs opportunities to move to larger markets, and pooling of intellectual property rights, all without worry of antitrust litigation." [1] [1] https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-antitrust-exemption-explained-revocation-171307791.html https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-antitrust-exemption-explained-r...

by pitaj 4y ago

willturman 4y ago

Major League Baseball has an exemption to US anti-trust regulation. It's literally a federally codified monopoly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_v._Kuhn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_v._Kuhn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Baseball_Club_v._National_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Baseball_Club_v._Natio... https://blogs.fangraphs.com/baseballs-antitrust-exemption-a-primer/ https://blogs.fangraphs.com/baseballs-antitrust-exemption-a-...

missedthecue 4y ago
Doesn't look like it was codified. It was a supreme court ruling that baseball was not subject to the Sherman Antitrust Act
- shadowofneptune 4y ago
  Even then, they did not avoid calling it such. If I remember that case correctly they classified it as a cartel, making it one of the few cartels (in the sense of a set of companies which collude with each other) in the US.
- willturman 4y ago
  You’re right - codified was a poor word to use as the exception was not written into law but established with a Supreme Court ruling. Major League Baseball’s anti-trust exemption was formally established 100 years ago and has been upheld by multiple subsequent rulings. The necessity of the exemption is currently being explored by the Senate Judiciary Committee who has requested a formal justification for the exemption as it applies to minor league baseball from commissioner Manfred. [1] Being the only professional league operating in the United States that has an anti-trust exemption, it should be interesting to see what justification MLB comes up with in the context of current labor law. https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Senators-ask-MLB-why-antitrust-exemption-needed-17312921.php https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Senators-ask-MLB-why-a...

kingbirdy 4y ago

For many people (esp. kids and "Disney adults"), Disney{land,world} isn't a type of theme park, it's its own experience that could never be substituted with Six Flags or Universal Studios, and Disney clearly has a "monopoly" on Disney-branded parks. I believe that was OP's point. Another commenter has already explained how Major League Baseball is literally a federally granted monopoly.

JasserInicide 4y ago

Entertainment monopolies are a bit harder to quantify, but look at how much Disney owns (https://www.titlemax.com/wp-content/uploads/every-company-disney-owns.jpeg https://www.titlemax.com/wp-content/uploads/every-company-di...). Numerous TV channels/production companies. Movie studios. Many, many popular franchises and they're adding to it all the time. It may not be a monopoly by the legal definition, but at what point should a company not have control of this much?

brewdad 4y ago

> How is baseball a monopoly? Major League Baseball literally has an antitrust exemption granted by the US Supreme Court and has for 100 years. "MLB’s antitrust exemption empowers the league and its clubs to conspire in ways that might otherwise run afoul of antitrust law. The current version of the exemption allows caps on minor league players’ salaries (also known as wage fixing), denial of clubs opportunities to move to larger markets, and pooling of intellectual property rights, all without worry of antitrust litigation." [1] [1] https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-antitrust-exemption-explained-revocation-171307791.html https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-antitrust-exemption-explained-r...