Fans of the World, Unite!: A (Capitalist) Manifesto for Sports Consumers

Description

Fans of the World, Unite! investigates how American sports leagues are currently operating in the best interests of their owners but not of fans. This book offers a set of practical pro-competitive reforms that could dramatically improve the well-being of fans without crippling the owners financially. Contents Acknowledgments 1. How Sports Fans Are Exploited A Sports Fans’ Manifesto The Book, in a Nutshell Sports and the Public Trust The Inefficient Monopolists Can Intervention in the “Free Market” Be Justified? Tax Subsidies and Restricted Entry Ticket Prices Television Blackouts Labor Market Restraints Operating the Club: Management and Ancillary Sales Why Do Fans Put Up With It? 2. Diagnosis and Suggested Cure Our Twofold Remedy Conflict of Interest Between the League and the Owners Recognizing the Conflict: The Commissioner and Regulation of “Integrity” Issues Beyond the Commissioner Promotion and Relegation Holdup and the Need for Enforceable Rules 3. Competitive Balance American Values, Foreign Values, and the Concept of “Competitive Balance” Historical Origins of Competitive Balance as a Goal of Sports Leagues Is Competitive Balance Consistent with American Capitalist Values? Actual Evidence Regarding the Appeal of Balanced Competitions How Our Proposals Affect Competitive Balance 4. Borrowing from NASCAR: An Independent Competition Organizer A Primer on the Economics of “Contest Theory” NASCAR’s Origins NASCAR’s Development Sleeping Dogs: The Absence of NASCAR Restraints on Entry and Labor Competition The Exception That Proves the Rule: Selection of Nextel Cup Sites A Few Caveats 5. Borrowing from Soccer: Entry by Merit Origins of the Structure of a “Closed” League Problems with the Closed League Format, and Entry by Merit as a Solution How Entry by Merit Works in Soccer Origins of Entry by Merit in English Soccer Weighing Objections 6. How a Restructured Sports League Would Work Setting It Up Who Does What? The Relationship Between the League and the Clubs Introducing Promotion and Relegation tothe Major Leagues The Labor Market and Incentives TV and Media Ticket Prices Marketing Initiatives 7. Comparing This Proposal to Other Remedies for Monopoly Power The Inadequacy of Antitrust Law to Protect Sports Fans Direct Government Regulation Break Up the Monopoly League Potential Need for Additional Regulation Continuing Application of Antitrust Laws to Restructured Sports Entities 8. Half-Loaf, Still-an-Improvement Compromise Suggestions The Limits to Voluntary Reform The Commission System The Commissioner as the “Coasebuster” Commissioner as Volunteer Cheerleader 9. Fans, What We Can Imagine! The Case of the Frustrated Billionaire The Case of the Compromising Monopolist The Case of Mayors with Backbone The Case of the Fed-Up Commissioner, The Case of the Imperialist Media Baron The Case of Fans Arising Notes Index