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9 - All for one and one for all

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2010

Wray Vamplew
Affiliation:
Flinders University of South Australia
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Summary

Sports cartels emerge from the mutual interdependence of clubs in the sense that the revenue of any club depends on the performances of every club. Clubs may be sports competitors but they can be economic partners; and in an effective cartel, although all teams cannot win, all clubs can make profits.

The initial step in determining whether cartels operated in British sport in the period under study is to establish the basic functions of an ideal-type, profit-maximising cartel against which the British sports organisations can be assessed. Four interrelated features can be postulated. First, there has to be a central, decision-making organisation with powers to discipline members for rule infractions. Such powers are necessary because there is an inherent conflict between group and individual club interests in that the costs of reduced uncertainty caused by an overly strong team may be borne primarily by the other clubs. Second, the cartel will act to influence profits by cost-minimising regulations, usually some form of labour market intervention designed to prevent undue competition for players between member clubs. Such devices include limitations on payments to players, territorial restrictions on recruitment, drafting systems, maximum team rosters, impediments imposed on player mobility, and, of course, the size of the league from which the demand for labour is derived. Third, on the other blade of the profit scissors, cartels can attempt to maximise revenue by improving the product offered for sale.

Type
Chapter
Information
Pay Up and Play the Game
Professional Sport in Britain, 1875–1914
, pp. 112 - 153
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1988

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  • All for one and one for all
  • Wray Vamplew, Flinders University of South Australia
  • Book: Pay Up and Play the Game
  • Online publication: 16 February 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511560866.012
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  • All for one and one for all
  • Wray Vamplew, Flinders University of South Australia
  • Book: Pay Up and Play the Game
  • Online publication: 16 February 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511560866.012
Available formats
×

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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • All for one and one for all
  • Wray Vamplew, Flinders University of South Australia
  • Book: Pay Up and Play the Game
  • Online publication: 16 February 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511560866.012
Available formats
×