Sport and the Free Market

On Bloomberg today I've been writing about how every flimsy businessman usessport as a vehicle to legitimise themselves, a piece that was also picked up by The Times. Sir Allen Stanford is only the latest example. It seems to happen all the time. Sport is a challenge to people who, like myself, broadly believe in free markets. Football is the most glaring example - it is hard not to believe that the Premier League has been killed by the influx of money, since, although skill levels are higher, there isn't much meaningful competition. Indeed, with the demise of Chelsea, it doesn't look as if anyone can challenge Manchester United for the title for a long time, and there is not much fun in that. I suspect salary caps such as they have in American football may be the answer, together with limits on foreign players - but it is not going to be easy to achive.