The NFL is a Socialist Paradise

And nothing is more popular in America

Photo by Paolo Aldrighetti on Unsplash

Professional Football, the American kind with the brown oblong ball, is far and away the most popular sport in America. It is also a very socialist enterprise. It is funny to think that the seeds of this socialist paradise were sown in the 1960s, when the Red Scare of the Socialist Soviet Union was drilled into the American mind as our enemy and rival.

Nonetheless, the owners of the teams in the National Football leaned into socialism because they understood that the health of the whole was more important than the health of just a few big teams, because everyone would do better if the collective did better.

In the early 1960s, Wellington and Jack Mara, owners of New York Giants, the richest team in the NFL, agreed to a revenue-sharing plan that allowed franchises from smaller markets to share in revenue equally.

The Maras worked with commissioner Pete Rozell and Cleveland Browns owner, Art Model to convince the other owners. Eventually, the other owners agreed. And the rest is history.

The owners of the biggest and richest teams could have taken most of the spoils of the league for themselves, but they understood that such a model would not be sustainable. If a few teams dominated the league and the rich always got richer, fans in those other smaller markets would loose interest over time and everyone would be worse off.

The NFL owners of the time didn’t announce their plan as socialist in any way shape or form, and I doubt that anyone from the league office today would agree with me that the NFL is socialist at its core. They would say that it is a fantastic capitalist business that has brought joy to its fans and vast wealth to its owners.

They are correct.

The NFL is socialist internally - the owners dealing with each other.

The NFL is capitalist externally - the owners dealing with media organization and the fans.

There is a lesson here.

Here are some of the rules that govern the modern NFL:

• Salary cap for players

• Salary minimum for players

• Redistribution of wealth for television revenue

• A draft of players so the worst teams get the best picks of college players

The system is designed so everyone has the same opportunity. That is a socialist paradise my friend. Of course some teams tend to be better than others over a long period of time because they have better ownership, better coaches, draft a generational talent at quarterback, or have better luck.

But the system is designed so that everyone has generally the same opportunity to succeed.

You can love or hate, or be passionately ambivalent about the NFL, but it does offer a model for the country where the NFL is based that is arguably the least equal society in the world.

Make sure everyone has the same opportunity, and then let the chips fall where they may.

The next time someone tells you that socialism never works, point them to the NFL and tell them no, socialism is why the NFL is quite possibly the most beloved institution in America.

If the NFL was run like our political leaders run America, there would be about 4-6 teams out of the 32 teams we have now that always win every year for decades. It would be the English Premier League.

Tell an NFL loving American that if the current NFL was run the way our country is, the result would be the English Premier League and that it is only the socialist structure of the NFL that gives their favorite team an equal opportunity.

Ask them if redistribution of wealth is so successful in the NFL, whether that means we should try it in America for you know, the people, so that we can all succeed together. What if we organized our society as if the health of the collective was more important than the health of the top few?

Nah, we can’t do that. That’s socialist.

Note: For another look at the comparison of college and professional football, and how one is trying to destroy itself while the other is thriving, check out this video:

You Will Never Look at College Football the Same