Pro/Rel Files: Beckham, Brady, and McElhenney Walk Into a Third Division Stadium

(This feature highlights the advantages an open sports system based on opportunity and sporting merit has over closed sports systems that rely on monopoly power and artificial scarcity.)

Have you heard the one about David Beckham, Tom Brady, and Rob McElhenney walking into a third division soccer stadium in the United States? Unfortunately, you haven't.

But those three stars were among the crowd of about 28,000 supporters in attendance for the League One (i.e., third division) game between Birmingham City FC and Wrexham FC on September 16, and Brady even vlogged about his trip.

Brady and McElhenney, of course, are part-owners of Birmingham City and Wrexham respectively, while Beckham is a co-owner of the 4th division club Salford City.

Why are these three traveling across the Atlantic to attend a lower-division game, not to mention investing in lower-level clubs in Europe instead of in the United States? 

Primarily because of the opportunities for club mobility that exist in an open system based on sporting merit.