[Mick]

We would literally *never* accept this logic in any other field. "You can't work for Amazon because your startup needs you." "You can't transfer to Harvard because blah blah blah."  B.S. While pro sports get away with these kind of labor restrictions -- and to some degree I think they make sense -- pro athletes are compensated with millions of dollars. So I'm afraid you can't have it both ways. Either offer lots of compensation for players' abject lack of freedom, or give them freedom. Having it both ways is ridiculous.

For pro team sports, it helps to adopt the perspective that the athlete is an employee of the league, not a specific team; not unlike an individual who works for a division of a large company.  Intra-company transfers are easy, quick and painless (except for the politics, I'm just talking about the mechanics) and the employee technically goes on a new payroll, but it's the same basic monolith.

Two teams have to play each other, really it's an entertainment.  Giants fans buy Giants tickets, Dodgers fans (largely) buy Dodgers tickets.  Each division is merely a geographic division, so trades and free agency are common and immediate.

[Mick]

We would literally *never* accept this logic in any other field. "You can't work for Amazon because your startup needs you." "You can't transfer to Harvard because blah blah blah."  B.S. While pro sports get away with these kind of labor restrictions -- and to some degree I think they make sense -- pro athletes are compensated with millions of dollars. So I'm afraid you can't have it both ways. Either offer lots of compensation for players' abject lack of freedom, or give them freedom. Having it both ways is ridiculous.

For pro team sports, it helps to adopt the perspective that the athlete is an employee of the league, not a specific team; not unlike an individual who works for a division of a large company.  Intra-company transfers are easy, quick and painless (except for the politics, I'm just talking about the mechanics) and the employee technically goes on a new payroll, but it's the same basic monolith.

Two teams have to play each other, really it's an entertainment.  Giants fans buy Giants tickets, Dodgers fans (largely) buy Dodgers tickets.  Each division is merely a geographic division, so trades and free agency are common and immediate.