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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   7130 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

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ruthless capitalist competition

American pro sports, including the NFL, are socialist. Drafts, salary caps, revenue sharing etc. The team that finishes bottom of the league gets a participation trophy in the form of first pick in the next year's draft.

European football (soccer for Yanks) is the ultimate capitalist sport. All players not signed to long-term contracts are free agents. Teams can spend as much as they want as long as the source meets "financial fair play" rules. (Basically, there is a limit on how much a billionaire owner can subsidise a money-losing team - there is no cap on money from ticket sales, merch sales, or genuine commercial sponsorship). The team that finishes bottom of the league gets relegated.

Paul Graham once said that the Europeans know that capitalism works, because when they actually care about winning they allow winners to get rich, but the only thing the Europeans care about that much is soccer. And we do care that much - football replaced war in the European consciousness after we discovered how destructive war could be when fought with the level of skill and determination you see in the Champions' League.

Category error. I didn't mean the competition between the teams is capitalist. I mean the competition between the NFL as an entertainment product and the other sports leagues (NBA, MLB, NHL, EPL etc.) as well as different entertainment products (movies, netflix) is the capitalist competition.

Then we very much agree.

Absolutely!

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