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Build a stadium and Chargers will stay? Nope.
My understanding of how the NFL is organized is irrelevant, especially in light of the fact that I made no claims regarding how the NFL is actually run. My comments were about how the NFL should be run (hence my liberal use of the word "if"). How McDonald's treats its franchisees is also irrelevant, because football teams are not hamburger restaurants. In any event, if you look at the McDonald's U.S. franchising site, the requirements do not look all that onerous. Certainly every business entity which sells franchises has a vested interest in protecting the brand. It's hard to justify the NFL's prohibition against public ownership as "protecting the brand." And "32 separate franchises" is pretty much the same as "32 different businesses." One McDonald's franchisee is not the same business entity as another McDonald's franchisee. One key question is "Do NFL teams compete against each other in a business sense, or do they operate cooperatively to compete against other entertainment?" McDonald's franchisee A would prefer you shop at his restaurant rather than franchisee B's (although I suppose he would rather you shop at B's McDonald's rather than at Jack in the Box).— May 4, 2012 4:07 p.m.
Build a stadium and Chargers will stay? Nope.
Whether they were in response to your main points or not (and it was clear even as I responded that they were not), mine were reasonably conclusions drawn from your post. You reiterate support for my conclusions in your 3:33 PM post, namely that the stadium the Padres play in has no bearing on your decision to attend a game.— May 4, 2012 3:51 p.m.
Seau Apparent Suicide Could be Watershed NFL Event
Lament the death of a father, son and brother. And as such, his death is no more (and no less) tragic than the death of any other father, son and brother. Hero worship sucks.— May 4, 2012 3:44 p.m.
Build a stadium and Chargers will stay? Nope.
If the NFL is a single entity, which would justify the onerous entrance hurdles, then they should share *all* money equally among all teams. If they are 32 (or whatever it is now) different businesses, then anyone who can foot the bill should be able to start an NFL team. Then the market would decide the number and location of NFL teams.— May 4, 2012 3:11 p.m.
Build a stadium and Chargers will stay? Nope.
So Tom, you say you neither come because of Petco (an assertion I agree with and I am fairly certain Don would, as well) nor that you would stay away because of Petco. If you were otherwise inclined to go to a Dodgers/Padres game (or any other Padres game), it sounds like you'd go whether it was at Qualcomm or Petco, thus supporting the larger argument that Petco was a waste of money.— May 4, 2012 3:07 p.m.
Build a stadium and Chargers will stay? Nope.
True. That's why I stop at Disneyland when traveling north.— May 4, 2012 2:58 p.m.
Build a stadium and Chargers will stay? Nope.
The discussion on VOSD radio was about the NFL's prohibition against public ownership of a franchise. We all know that one one the reasons is that if a city owns the team, the team and the league can't wring financial concessions from the city via threats to move the team to another city. If the NFL is a free market endeavor, then there should not be any restrictions on team ownership. But like so many self-labeled free market enthusiasts, NFL owners support the free market only the extent it benefits them. When it doesn't, "protectionism" and "government subsidies" are the words to live by.— May 4, 2012 11:21 a.m.
Tijuana Bordello Busted
Presumably because sex with underage girls is a crime.— May 4, 2012 10:17 a.m.
Build a stadium and Chargers will stay? Nope.
And that's no doubt how the NFL comes up with such stratospheric numbers for Super Bowl hosting. They probably simply add up all the money which is spent in the host city, and say "See, this is how much money a Super Bowl generates for the host city."— May 4, 2012 10:03 a.m.
Bridgepoint Reports Poor Earnings, Stock Plummets
That's Carl DeMaio's kind of free enterprise. As you assert (or imply, or as I infer), there's a cadre a self-labeled free marketeers who seem to believe that government's job is to step out of the way when private business finds it can do for a profit something the government has traditionally done. Or even worse than merely step out of the way, pay private contractors more than it would cost the government to do the job itself.— May 4, 2012 9:32 a.m.