In truth, the major pro sports (at least in the US and Canada)have very different buisness models that to different degrees skew the system to big and small market teams.
First and formost, every league has different revenue sharing agreements between its membership. To my recollection, the NFL teams put a relatively large amount of revenue into a common pot and then divide it equally. This, of course, gives a boost to smaller market teams. The last six Super Bowl winners have been Tampa, New England, Baltimore, St. Louis, Denver (twice) and Green Bay. All relatively large markets. Couple this with rigid standards on player salaries (in the form of a collective bargaining agreement with the players union that defines a maximum amount each team can spend on players), and small market and big market teams are on a relatively even playing field. At the other end of the spectrum, Major League Baseball teams share relatively little revenue and have (until last year... And the rules are still pretty loose) no real curbs on how much a team can spend on players). Teams from Southern California or New York have appeared in and won 5 of the last six World Series. Why do relatively similar endeavors have such different business models? -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of fabio guillermo rojas Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2003 2:32 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Competition vs. Profits in the NBA Playoffs between small market teams get low ratings, like the New Jersey Nets/San Antonio Spurs championship game. But a lot people inside sports seem to resent big market teams (Yankees, LA Lakers) consistently dominating the play-offs, although audiences seem to want dynasties from big cities. Is there an inherent problem here? Is it inevitable that there is a conflict between people inside sports who want to see some diversity among the winners? Is big league team sports inherently biased towards the dynasty model? Are there viable business models for team sports that could produce a wider range of winners? Fabio
