The socialism of American football

I am indebted to a nephew who made an interesting observation about the odd relationship betwen the 'American Dream' and the way in which Americans run pro football. One might think that free market ideology would dictate that the fortunes of the football franchises should be left to natural forces. The model suggests that the best will rise to the top, attract more resources and thus be able to retain their dominant position. In other words they should receive just rewards comensurate with the workrate and talent. Certainly this is what happens with European football where, in most leagues, only a handful of clubs have the resources to have any prospect of winning the title. In England there are perhaps six teams with such a prospect, in Spain it is two and in Scotland, since the demise of Glasgow rangers, it is only one, and in other countries only a handful each. But in America this is not allowed to happen through a system known as the draft. This works so that the clubs who do badly in one season, are given first pick of the best college players who become avaialable each Summer.In the folowing seasons they have the chance to climb back up the leagues, while the dominant clubs, who have to accept second-raters, drift down. In this way the chances of the teams are equalised through blatant market intervention. By now, you should be catching my drift. Theis manipulation to even out the chances of every club looks like a system of central planning in order artificially to create equality of opportunity. In other words, it sounds suspiciously like socialism. Strange.........