Positive Energy

Which one of these things is not like the others?

“Major League Baseball is the only professional sports league with broad antitrust protection. The National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, the NCAA, NASCAR, professional tennis and Major League Soccer supported the NFL in this case, hoping the high court would expand broad antitrust exemption to other sports.”

(from http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5214509&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines)

At least the professional leagues have an honest reason for trying to gain antitrust protection: namely, to increase their own profits.  The NCAA, ostensibly, has no such motive, and, in its absence, strives instead to expand its own power and influence.  This is, IMO, a scarier inclination, as it 1) is less likely to serve an actual need and 2) clothes itself in the guise of service, rather than self-aggrandizement.