[pauloalto]

Even ignoring the fact that the NFL has free agency for franchises -- that another owner can pull up stakes and move to Washington if he thinks it would be profitable -- that's a very narrow definition of competition, much like saying Stanford football has no competition because it's the only college football team in Palo Alto.

The Redskins compete for fans' entertainment time and dollars with all kinds of things: movies, DVDs, college football teams, NBA basketball, YouTube, TV, books, pizza, NFL Sunday Ticket. There used to be a USFL team in Washington, and it captured approximately zero percent of the Redskins' market share. That suggests to me that the issue of the team name is not really a very important one to most of its fans.

I'm also not sure the NFL is a cartel. It does not control the supply of football, which exists in many different forms and brands. It controls the supply of NFL football, but if that's a cartel, then so is McDonald's, because it controls the supply of McDonald's hamburgers.

Actually, the NFL was found guilty of violating anti-monopoly laws in the 1986 lawsuit by the USFL.

[pauloalto]

Even ignoring the fact that the NFL has free agency for franchises -- that another owner can pull up stakes and move to Washington if he thinks it would be profitable -- that's a very narrow definition of competition, much like saying Stanford football has no competition because it's the only college football team in Palo Alto.

The Redskins compete for fans' entertainment time and dollars with all kinds of things: movies, DVDs, college football teams, NBA basketball, YouTube, TV, books, pizza, NFL Sunday Ticket. There used to be a USFL team in Washington, and it captured approximately zero percent of the Redskins' market share. That suggests to me that the issue of the team name is not really a very important one to most of its fans.

I'm also not sure the NFL is a cartel. It does not control the supply of football, which exists in many different forms and brands. It controls the supply of NFL football, but if that's a cartel, then so is McDonald's, because it controls the supply of McDonald's hamburgers.

Actually, the NFL was found guilty of violating anti-monopoly laws in the 1986 lawsuit by the USFL.