Bill Maher: The NFL is Socialist or Something

At first I thought Bill Maher was just trying to be humorous with this HuffPo piece.

New Rule: With the Super Bowl only a week away, Americans must realize what makes NFL football so great: socialism. That's right, for all the F-15 flyovers and flag waving, football is our most successful sport because the NFL takes money from the rich teams and gives it to the poor teams... just like President Obama wants to do with his secret army of ACORN volunteers. Green Bay, Wisconsin has a population of 100,000. Yet this sleepy little town on the banks of the F*ck-if-I-know River has just as much of a chance of making it to the Super Bowl as the New York Jets - who next year need to just shut the hell up and play.

Then, Maher actually tries to score the point.

So, you kind of have to laugh - the same angry white males who hate Obama because he's "redistributing wealth" just love football, a sport that succeeds economically because it does exactly that. To them, the NFL is as American as hot dogs, Chevrolet, apple pie, and a second, giant helping of apple pie.

There are several problems with Maher's analogy. Equally distributing the goods is actually communistic, not socialistic. Also, NFL teams are privately owned, own their own logo's, stadium revenue, and local TV contracts. They are like a privately held business cartel. Socialism hating football fans can rest easy and enjoy the Super Bowl.