Монополія та конкуренція в американському футболі в історії та сучасності

Abstract

Professional sports leagues today are trying to increase their income and looking for new sources for this. In the United States, most leagues in one sport are monopoly structures. Considering the National Football League in this context, it is worth noting its rather strict policy towards possible competitors at the football market. At the same time, throughout the history of American football, there have been attempts to organize competing structures that have been more or less successful. The purpose of the study was to identify the features of the formation American football organizations in North America at different times, the factors of successes and failures. Material and methods. The main material on which the study was based was data from the Internet, official websites of American football organizations and official ratings of Forbes magazine. To achieve the stated purpose, we used the following research methods: data analysis and generalization; theoretical interpretation and explanation; analysis of documentary materials. Results and discussion. The study results showed that during the formation and development of American football in the United States, except for the National Football League, six other organizations tried to create competition for it at one time or another. Among them were All-American Football Conference, American Football League, World Football League, United State Football League, Xtreme Football League, and Alliance of American Football. All these organizations generally sought to be better than National Football League through more progressive steps towards the development of football, but the conservatism of the National Football League always allowed it to remain the winner. Most of the newly formed leagues could not withstand the uncompromising financial struggle for high-class athletes, but the XFL and AAF, which was created in the 21st century, were defeated by precautionary measures during the COVID-19 pandemic and the game seasons were canceled. Conclusion. The key factors formation of organizations that sought to develop American football in the United States (except the National Football League) were: the growing popularity of this sport; a large number of athletes, who aspired to develop in this sport, but could not do it in National Football League; the emergence of enthusiasts with significant financial resources, who sought to invest in football projects and at the same time increase their own resources; technological progress, in particular in football. However, none of these organizations stayed long in the football business and lost to the National Football League. The reasons for this were: improper distribution of financial resources in the middle of the leagues; unjustified steps in the desire to be more progressive than the National Football League; the dominant authority of the National Football League; external factors (wars, epidemics / pandemics, global economic and political crises, etc.)