ATTN: Oregon delegation to the U.S. House and Senate:

The NBA’s monopoly and monopsony have outlived their usefulness to the country, to the sport of Basketball, and to the people who play it. Now Portland, like many other cities around the country, is being extorted into excessive and unnecessary capital improvements to a civic arena (the Moda Center, in this case)¹, by an owner who has no loyalty to the city - because the city, state, and general public were forbidden by the NBA constitution from submitting a bid for the team when it went up for sale.

We must insist that U.S. Congress repeal the provisions of the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act that legalized this monopoly² on basketball entertainment, and replace it with a better framework that allows minor leagues and alt-leagues to flourish, encourages scholarship above spectacle at universities, discourages gambling and vice, prevents governments and publics from being held hostage by their billionaire tenants, and allows municipalities or States to purchase major league teams (which is currently forbidden by the NBA and NFL constitutions), to allow public ownership of sports franchises, as in the case of Harrisburg Senators or Rochester redwings in minor league baseball, or to allow non-profit shareholder ownership (also currently unconstitutional) as in the case of the Green Bay Packers

Please carefully consider the attached legislative proposal: the Basketball Competitive Markets Act. Please reply with any analyses or suggested amendments - and seek co-sponsor (ideally Republican) from another State facing similar dilemmas, who wishes to push back on the anti-competitive behavior of America's sports monopolies.

In the meantime, the City of Portland will be encouraged re-invest the money they would otherwise spend on excessive capital improvements to the Moda Center, by using it instead to finance a semi-professional regional basketball league, whose all-star team will represent our City in the nation's first ALTERNATE or MINOR LEAGUE BASKETBALL. The Oregon All-star team will occupy the Arena and probably inherit the name OREGON TRAILBLAZERS after the 2030 divorce with Rip City Mgmt, Inc. and Tom Dundon, Inc., and subsequent litigation. If you really want to "defeat the billionaires", then you have to start thinking like one: invest in the CIVIC and CULTURAL CAPITAL necessary to COMPETE DIRECTLY WITH THE NBA (a boring and overpaid anti-competitive blob) by producing a superior form of basketball entertainment, and cultivate SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT for truly "LOCAL" ECONOMIC GROWTH. Instead of corrupting youth and collegiate sports with excessive cash, and instead of excluding talented amateur who want to be STUDENTS first and ATHLETES second, this regional semi-pro league would encourage citizens to PLAY BALL, and not just consume beer and nachos while watch others play. It will Broaden the athletic base, lower the TV viewership rates. By improving the health and vitality of the citizenry, it will probably lower health care expenditure and raise the average intelligence. Someday, maybe, the University of Oregon "Ducks" bookstore may actually have books and course syllabi in it again, instead of two full floors of Duck tschoschkes and branded athleisure wear, over one basement full of stationary and supplies. Priorities anyone?! Do the responsible adults here ever wonder why Oregon has such low standardized test scores?

By the way, the name "Oregon Trailblazers" is an inalienable cultural heritage of Oregon, and the Team can't take it with them if and when they leave town with Tom Dundon, Inc.

Here are the five titles of the legislative proposal to deprecate the sports monopoly: the Basketball Competitive Markets Act.

• Title I — Repeal of the Basketball Broadcast Pooling Exemption to the Sherman anti-Trust Act
• Title II — Franchise Ownership Structure Reform Act
• Title III — Alternate League Non-Interference Act
• Title IV — Entry-Level Player Market Competition Act³
• Title V — General Provisions

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Footnotes