{"id":4083,"date":"2005-09-14T13:09:18","date_gmt":"2005-09-14T17:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/09\/14\/not-just-nit-picking\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:57:24","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:57:24","slug":"not-just-nit-picking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/09\/14\/not-just-nit-picking\/","title":{"rendered":"not just NIT-picking"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

An email from <\/FONT>SportsEconomist<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A> Skip Sauer made me speculate on the purpose of the <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
NCAA in <\/FONT><\/FONT>seeking to eliminate the NIT as a tournament rival.  Although a “not-for-profit” <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
entity, <\/FONT><\/FONT>NCAA has a <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>$6.2 billion, 11-year contract with CBS<\/FONT><\/A> for television and marketing <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
rights to <\/FONT>its tournament. (see our prior post<\/A>)<\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
 <\/DIV>
\n

\n
\"ballHoop\"  The folks who run nominally “non-profit” institutions (can you say “bar & guild<\/FONT><\/A>“?) <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
have the incentive to create <\/FONT><\/FONT>rules <\/FONT><\/FONT>and relationships <\/FONT><\/FONT>among their members that will maximize <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
the income of all those <\/FONT><\/FONT>members — <\/FONT><\/FONT>especially when <\/FONT><\/FONT>they convince themselves that they are <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
acting for a very good <\/FONT><\/FONT>cause, such as <\/FONT><\/FONT>education. [Adam <\/FONT><\/FONT>Smith’s <\/FONT>axiom<\/FONT><\/A> certainly doesn’t have <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
an exception for non-<\/FONT><\/FONT>profits<\/FONT><\/FONT>.]  Using market <\/FONT><\/FONT>power against potential or actual rival groups, or <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
eliminating them <\/FONT><\/FONT>through<\/FONT><\/FONT>acquisition or entry <\/FONT><\/FONT>barriers, is a very<\/EM> good way to maximize income.  <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
Of course, the <\/FONT><\/FONT>NCAA’s <\/FONT><\/FONT>leaders <\/FONT><\/FONT>also have the <\/FONT><\/FONT>normal human desire to increase their domain.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
 <\/DIV>
\n
Also, responding to my post yesterday, <\/FONT>Steve Bainbridge wrote<\/FONT><\/A>:  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n

\n
“I sort of vaguely recall such a time [when NIT was a <\/FONT>vigorous competitor with the <\/FONT><\/EM><\/DIV>
\n
NCAA], but if David’s point is that there ought to be some competition <\/FONT>to be stifled <\/FONT><\/EM><\/DIV>
\n
before one concludes that a merger is anit-competitive, I have to agree. Stick a fork <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
in the NIT; it’s done.”<\/EM>  <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n
That’s a little cavalier, even from the perspective of a West Coaster with little empathy for fans in  “bballguysNF”<\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
New <\/FONT>York City.  The fact that the National Invitational Tournament has been reduced over the years — <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
thanks in great part to the actions and policies of the NCAA — to a mere David competing with tiny <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
stones against the NCAA Goliath makes a merger investigation even more<\/EM> important.  (See the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
market concentration<\/FONT><\/A> section of the <\/FONT>DOJ\/FTC Horizontal Merger Guidelines<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A>; yes, Steve, I know <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
there were product and geographic market definitions questions in the case.)   Clearly, there is still <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
“some competition” between the two post-season tournaments (as the $40.6 million offer to buy <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
the NIT suggests), and removing NIT completely will not only extinguish the only current rival, it will <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
make the likelihood of a new entrant into the pre- or post-season basketball tournament arena <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
virtually <\/FONT>zero.   <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
 <\/DIV>
\n
Of course, ending the litigation also keeps the court from assessing the legality of the NCAA’s <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
restrictive post-season rules for member schools.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n

\n
“bBallGuysN” One thing we can all agree on:  There’s been too much prose <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
and not enough poetry <\/FONT>at this website lately;  Overnight, Ed Markowski<\/A> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
supplied us all with more good haiku and senryu about his beloved game <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
of basketball and the humans who play it:<\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n

\n

\n
Manhattan<\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
the shadow of a skyscraper falls across <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
the basketball court <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n

\n

\n

\n

\n
Highway One <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
ten feet up the Sequoia <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
an orange hoop<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
long rebound <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
crossing mid-court <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
she crosses my mind <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n
\"ballHoopF\"<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n
Indiana farm <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
one tractor <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
three hoops <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
calligraphy class <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
the point guard <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
pens a nike swoosh<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
 <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT><\/EM> <\/DIV>
\n
ed markowski<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A>  – for more, see his Comments to <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
yesterday’s post<\/FONT><\/A>.<\/FONT> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n

\n

\n

\n

\n
on a related note:<\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n

\n
game over<\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
men turn to leave<\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
the tv department<\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
 <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n
                                                        John Stevenson<\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
                                                             <\/FONT>Upstate Dim Sum<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A>  (<\/FONT>2004\/I<\/FONT><\/A>)<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
                                                                                                                                        \"tv\"<\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An email from SportsEconomist Skip Sauer made me speculate on the purpose of the NCAA in seeking to eliminate the NIT as a tournament rival.  Although a “not-for-profit” entity, NCAA has a $6.2 billion, 11-year contract with CBS for television and marketing rights to its tournament. (see our prior post)     The folks who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-13R","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13031,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions\/13031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}