Earlier this week Matthew Engle, writing in the Financial Times, claimed that "America teams are subsidy junkies". He drew attention how weaker teams were spared destruction by their fellow competitors. Sandwiched between his analysis of how rich teams subsidise poor teams and how leagues are subsidised by cites eager to get a franchise, Engle presented a brief account of "mercy rules" in schoolboy sport. Engle recounted a story of his son's soccer game in a Washington suburb. Leading 4-0 at half-time the kids were instructed to ease off. He claimed that this would be "unthinkable in Britain" (followed by "outside the boxing ring"). The piece was titled "Socialist NFL would fail in capitalist UK".
Writing in the same paper, a day later, Roger Blitz drew attention to the perceived lack of 'socialism' amongst those involved in F1. The F1 season started with 11 teams and is finishing with 9 teams. Two teams went into administration. Blitz says that three of the smaller teams are accusing Bernie Ecclestone of presiding over a "cartel" that benefits their rivals, "massively undermining its reputation as a sport". These three teams claimed they received $52-64m whereas the top four teams received "nearly half the season's prize pot of $835m".
It seems fair to suggest that Neale's publication will be relevant in another 50 years.