(05-22-2012 06:40 PM)Glassonion Wrote: (05-22-2012 06:24 PM)GSU Eagles Wrote: In the free market system you have the choice of being hired by an existing firm or going out on your own to start a new business and compete in the free market.
In the NCAA, you can only be picked by an existing conference (company) and you are not allowed to go out on your own (independent) or partner with other people that want to start a business (form a new conference).
Sounds more like a country club membership than a free market enterprise. And lets remember that there is a lot of public tax money tied up in these Universities.
At least somebody got it.
No, he engaged in the same horrible analysis you did.
"In the free market system you have the choice of being hired by an existing firm or going out on your own to start a new business and compete in the free market.
In the NCAA, you can only be picked by an existing conference (company) and you are not allowed to go out on your own (independent) or partner with other people that want to start a business (form a new conference)."
This ignores that the NCAA operates within a free market - it is not compulsory. In the free market, you can be hired by an employee to contribute to their company. In the NCAA, you can be picked by an conference to contribute to their conference.
It is true that in the free market you can go out on your own, however if you go out on your own with a product nobody wants to buy, you will fail. In the NCAA market, programs are the products and conferences are the buyers. You can announce the availability of your product and try to sell it, but if nobody buys it, it is not the market's fault. If you want to sell your product in a different market, you can schedule all the JUCOs, prep schools and NAIA schools you want. You can even try to get other people in the market to come with you - nobody is stopping you.
"Sounds more like a country club membership than a free market enterprise. And lets remember that there is a lot of public tax money tied up in these Universities."
What about a country club doesn't align with free enterprise? People pay a sum of money to join the club, and they are allowed entry if their addition to the club is acceptable to the current members. To force the club members to accept members they do not want is, again, not "free market" - it is socialistic. Now, you will point out that in certain instances, clubs have been forced to take certain members, and while that is true, that doesn't make those actions part of a "free market" philosophy.
Again, you are essentially arguing that there should be some sort of plan for small market schools that forces conferences to take them when it is not in their self-determined best interests. If that is what you want, fine, but it is NOT a free-market approach.