RE: monopoly definition

["Paul Hopfgarten" <paul@03038.com>]

I think the anti-trust exemption prevents a 2nd Baseball "organization" from
forming at the top level.

NFL had the AFL, which it eventually absorbed (1970), taking all 10 AFL
teams (Boston [now New Eng], Buffalo, NY Jets, Oakland, Denver, San Diego,
Kansas City, Miami, Cincinnati, and Houston [now Tennessee]) into the NFL

There were also the WFL in 1975-6, the USFL from 1983-5, and who can forget
the stellar XFL of 2001, all which collapsed on their own!

NBA had the ABA, which it eventually absorbed (1976), taking 4 ABA teams
(San Antonio, Denver, Indiana, New York Nets [now New Jersey]) into the NBA

NHL had the WHA, which it eventually absorbed (1980), taking 4 WHA teams
(Hartford [now Carolina], Quebec [now Colorado], Winnipeg [now Phoenix], and
Edmonton) into the NHL

MLB had NOTHING!, which is why the only alternate "leagues" are at the minor
league level.

Lesson is that MLB probably would survive just as well without the
exemption.



Paul Hopfgarten
East Derry NH 03041


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
> [mailto:owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org]On Behalf Of
> DonKelley@aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 5:06 PM
> To: ssmyth@suscom.net; boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
> Subject: Re: monopoly definition
>
>
> There was a span of 50 years (1903-1953) when Major League
> Baseball had 16 teams playing in only 10 cities.  New York had
> three teams.  Boston, St. Louis, Chicago, and Philadelphia each
> had two. Cleveland did not, by the way.  It was during this
> period that the antitrust exemption was granted.
>
> In the 50's teams began travelling by plane instead of train.  In
> 1953 Boston's Lou Perini, owner of the Braves, got the idea that
> the team would draw better as the big fish in Milwaukee instead
> of being the second-fiddle team in Boston.  The St. Louis Browns
> followed suit the next year and became the Baltimore Orioles.
> The following year the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas
> City.  Three years after that the Dodgers moved to LA and the
> Giants moved to San Francisco.  Each team wound up with a
> monopoly in its own market.
>
> As MLB expanded starting in the 60's mew markets were added.
> With the exception of the Mets, each new team had a market to
> itself. Yes, Oakland is near San Francisco and Anaheim is near
> LA, but those are all top four markets.
>
> The point here is that Major League Baseball has allowed moves
> and expansion in an effort to expand the monopoly to cover as
> many markets as possible.
>
> Last year's effort to contract was simply an attempt to run the
> monopoly only in profitable markets.