The Capitalism of Soccer Why Europe's favorite sport is more American than baseball. http://slate.msn.com/id/2103170/ Although this article relates to soccer, it is truly an interesting and great read. It points out how professional soccer in Europe is perhaps more related to American capitalism and ideology than European principles and socialist history.
What's said and done, business-wise, in this country are two very different things. Corporate America is no more interested in a "free market" society than the NHLPA is in a salary cap.
Good article although we'v read it all before on BS. Here is something to think about. NASCAR is the most popular spectator sport (or fastest increasing) in the US. Is it set up more like European soccer or American soccer?
As always, I hate to throw the wrench into a fabulously constructed strawman, but capitalism is a European construct. Unless the Scotland Adam Smith was from was Scotland, PA.
Nope, it is just a market failure, although the way US sports teams are supported by the government could be an argument of anti-capitalism. Also the ideas of revenue sharing and redistributing wealth from the rich teams to the poorer teams are fairly socialistic.
Did you read the article? It's about how pro/rel fits more into American Darwinian capitalism, while the US system of franchises within a cartel fits more with European subsidies for workers and industries.
Agreed. In the context of comparing pro/rel to the cartel nature of US league membership, it's a poor example of "socialism", is all. Pro/rel, on the other hand, is a very solid example of capitalism, tho success is a funky blend of on-field performance and revenue and the rather complicated relationship between those two. Nits, perhaps. I'm a stickler for accurate terminology.
When it came to economics I used to be, but out in the real world far to many people make mistakes about the terminology for me to continually fight that battle.
It's the bane of my existance. In all arenas I'm a stickler for precise language, and I'm alone in my obsession, much to the detriment of my sanity.
Interesting article although I think the authors of both the review and the book misinterpret the relationship between "cartels" and "socialism". As far as I've ever understood things, cartels are artificial concentrations of capital and market forces produced via capitalist means; companies slowly accrete vertical and horizontal production and market capacity with either the tacit approval of the state or at least via benign neglect. Socialist "central planning" concentration of capital and market forces is done via the express authority of the state. I differ with the author's point that cartel-type sports markets are un-American. The history of American captialism is largely one of the tension between various cartels or concentrations of market power and the eventual public reaction against them. See the rise of the Trusts and Robber Barons in the late 19th Century and the later Trust-Busting of the Progressive era. In the present day we see increasingly artificicial concentrations of market power in the health-care/pharmacutical and media industries to name just two. The free-wheeling, lazziez faire construct of the Europoean football leagues may resemble our ideals about American capitalism, but the cartel-like structures of NFL, MLB, etc. reflect the realities.