Monday, January 18, 2010

Monopoly is only a game

Currently, the supreme court is deciding whether or not the NFL is a monopoly. Let me save them some time, who cares!

Theoretically, monopolies can be bad. The danger is if one company (the monopolist) corners some market, they can charge a ridiculously high price. We have laws on the books to deal with this. When a company has too much power within a market, we force them to let competition in. The thinking is that as long as competition exists, no one company can charge exorbitantly high prices. In theory, this makes a certain amount of sense.

My beef isn't with the theory, but the reality. Surely, the most important aspect of a monopoly is what it monopolizes. Being the sole producer of oil or wheat is far more important than being the sole producer of Bobble heads or in this case, football. Why does it matter if football is crazy expensive? It doesn't. No one needs football to live, and there are a myriad of other entertainment choices out there. The consumer doesn't need Government to protect them from the NFL, he can simply turn the channel or go even so far as to spend time with his family. Football, like monopoly, is only a game. Let's hope the Supreme Court treats it as such.

0 comments:

Post a Comment