This year we have seen a resurgence of the National Superior Basketball (BSN, its acronym in spanish), with courts filled to capacity, high technology and shows before and at halftime like in the NBA. This coincides with the private investment of businessmen from Puerto Rico and the United States; a healthy and competent administration; and contracts to high quality reinforcements players, former NBA players. The result has been greater competitiveness and sports quality, as well as an increase in the number of fans on the courts and in television and radio audiences.
Let the local BSN market be free and you will see how it will grow and strengthen, and with it, the people in our society will flourish and prosper, he says Jorge L. Rodríguez. (Nahira Montcourt)
Players who have had millionaire contracts in the NBA would not come to the BSN, if it were not for economic arrangements that would be attractive to them. Would this type of high-performance basketball player come to play here because of the $45,000 salary cap imposed by the BSN? Of course, they wouldn't. What I have heard out there is that, to attract these players to our basketball league, unofficial economic arrangements have to be made that exceed -by far- the $45,000 salary cap.
Puerto Rican society lives under centralized control institutions and with high intrusion in the markets; and the BSN is no exception. This causes low competitiveness and people to circumvent excessive regulations (as occurs in our informal economy). The market has to be free enough for private investment to flow and for the people who participate in it to be the ones who make the decisions and assume the responsibilities. We must stop "playing God" with the market.
This BSN season has made the obvious clear. As high-performance athletes are brought in, the quality increases and with it, the fan support. Why is the BSN administration imposing such a low salary cap? There is enough empirical data in the BSN market to establish a salary cap that stimulates competitiveness and aligns with the reality that the market has already naturally defined. Private investors have seen that the fan base is there, willing to pay the real value of a quality product.
Decisions should be left to those who participate in the market (private investors, fans, media entrepreneurs and sponsors). A few administrators with central control do not make better decisions than many market participants putting their money on the line. As long as we continue with centralized controls that limit the potential and development of human beings, we will continue with elusive and informal practices that do not favor healthy competition.
The more investment, the greater the competitiveness. The more competitive, the higher the quality. The higher the quality, the greater the customer's willingness to pay. The more the customer's willingness to pay, the greater the increase in return on investment. The more the return on investment, the higher the investment. Let the local BSN market be free and you will see how it will grow and strengthen, and with it, the people in our society will flourish and prosper. For a sample, a button.
This piece was published originally in Spanish in El Nuevo Dia.
