Question

How could the monopoly be broken in one of the following leagues: NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL? (sports economics)

Answer 1

There is a difference between the practical and the technical (or legal). Technically, the NBA isn't a monopoly. There are other professional leagues, and nothing to stop you from forming your own. If you wished, you can create a new football league (see XFL, United Football League, United States Football League). These are the arguments that the major sports leagues would make in court if someone tried to regulate them like a monopoly. In the eyes of the law, they would be correct.

In the real world, there is no competition to the NBA (in that sport) and there won't be in out lifetime. Same with the NFL, NHL, etc. No one is going to build a single (or 30 different) billion dollar stadiums for Tom's (or Marc's) Basketball League. The NFL has the major networks so wrapped around their finger, that you could never get your football league on TV. From a practical sense, yes the NBA is a monopoly, but there's nothing we can do to change it.

Once upon a time the NFL was two different businesses, the AFL and NFL and they fought for market share. The AFL was seen as an inferior product, had difficulty getting TV contracts and paid less, as they got better they began to compete and merged.

So to break this monopoly, the investors should come forward to start competitor leagues. To create a professional sports league in the United States costs tens of millions of dollars and few entities have that level of capital at the ready. So it makes money to make money!!

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