The main difference is that in the private sector of businesses, there’s no lip service to the notion of competitive parity , just an aversion to monopolies. In pro sports, there is an effort, better in the NFL than MLB, to keep games competitive. The M’s, nor any team would want to compete with the Yankees for every draft pick, and while the players might like it in the short run, it would lead to weak competitive contests, lower fan interest, fewer gate receipts at cities other than LA / Boston/ New York. It would start the path down a slippery slope.

In private commerce, as long as I’m not subjected to monopolisitc pricing, and collusions, I don’t care if E&Y is 10X better than Price Waterhouse, because they recruit out of college better and pay their new grads more. I’d rather have that choice to pay more and get a better product.

Interesting analogy, but different in too many areas to really apply here. (The elitist athlete and high salaries was already brought up) The baseball player who doesn’t like his contract with KC, can always fall back on his accounting degree.