I keep hearing this. “The NFL is Socialist”. You also hear it when you complain that the Yankees take the field every night with an AVERAGE payroll advantage of 115 million! That’s AVERAGE. About half the time, yea, it’s worse. That’s a joke, right (well, not to Yankee fans who are in mass denial)? No, Yankee fans cry that if you have a problem with that, then you want “Socialism” for MLB.
There’s one problem with that. It’s 1000% wrong. The term “Socialism” describes the relationship between a government and its people. Got it?
When you talk about the NFL, or MLB, you are talking about an individual business. These businesses sell a product to the public. The product happens to be a fair sporting contest on the field between professional athletes. By “fair”, we mean, at a minimum, that the outcome is not known to any great degree, beforehand (that’s wrestling). That’s why players gambling is frowned upon; because the whole thing rests on the public TRUSTING that the games are honestly competed on the field.
Sharing revenue or capping expenditures, ENHANCES that which the business is selling: fair, honest competition on the field. It apples to oranges to even mention “Socialism” at this point.
If you DO NOT limit expenditure disparity (read: New York Yankees), then you have an UNFAIR system where outcomes are not totally in doubt.
Why hasn’t this system glitch been addressed in MLB? Well, the owners that bought the teams (including the Yankees) bought into an unfair system, and to change it with them holding the team, would diminish the value of their asset. That’s a tough sell. Good luck.
The other reason it has never changed is TV money. The biggest post season numbers come from the biggest markets and that drives the biggest revenue generator, the national TV package. So the on-the-field bias, translates into a nice bias at the cash register. Again, good luck changing that one. It’s patently unfair, but it works FOR them. Look, even the Mafia knew in 1930, to split New York into 5 zones! Having NY compete with Pittsburgh or KC is patently ABSURD!
Why else is it permitted? Well….er…Yankee fans LIKE IT! They like beatdowns and they have convinced themselves that it isn’t unfair. With an irrational mass denial akin to political or religious fervor, they have opted to “look away”. They like to feel “superior” in their fandom. There’s nothing wrong with what they do–only with what others do. Heck, it’s to the point where Yankee fans will advocate with a straight face, that super rich men should buy the small market teams and operate them at tens of millions in losses each year out of their own pockets! Just so Yankee fans don’t feel, ahh, you know, guilty, about outspending the rest of the league by an average of 114 million in 2010 and 115 million a night in 2011. Great.
Socialism to ensure your product actually IS what you say it IS? No, not even close. If MLB was a drug company, they’d be shut down because their product does not live up to it’s label (Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906). Imagine that. But there’s nothing to see here.
