Assignment Software Anti-Competitive Practice

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by MajorCord

"The change will be the first obvious evidence of the NCAA's acquisition of Arbiter last September and the investments they've made to keep Arbiter growing strong. "

Reid Evans
Founder and President
TheArbiter.net

Previously noted on this forum here: AssignByWeb problems

[Mark Padgett]

Camron, you know I am not a lawyer, but I do know that there are strip malls that, for instance, restrict the number of stores in the mall that have a pharmacy. I know you're familiar with the Beaverton area. One of the reasons Haggen foods moved to Beaverton from Tigard is that they weren't allowed to have an in-store pharmacy at the former store because Bi-Mart already had one and their lease stated no other pharmacies could be in that mall. Apparently, a pharmacy is a huge profit center for those kinds of stores.

The NASO exhibition is a private, not a public, function and I would think they could make a rule of this nature if they so desired.

Too bad. I use your site to get assignments from one of your customers and I think it's great.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

Camron, you know I am not a lawyer, but I do know that there are strip malls that, for instance, restrict the number of stores in the mall that have a pharmacy. I know you're familiar with the Beaverton area. One of the reasons Haggen foods moved to Beaverton from Tigard is that they weren't allowed to have an in-store pharmacy at the former store because Bi-Mart already had one and their lease stated no other pharmacies could be in that mall. Apparently, a pharmacy is a huge profit center for those kinds of stores.

The NASO exhibition is a private, not a public, function and I would think they could make a rule of this nature if they so desired.

Too bad. I use your site to get assignments from one of your customers and I think it's great.

That is all fine, except when it is practiced by a monopoly. Bi-Mart hardly has a monopoly on pharmacies. There are dozens of them and none of them (especially not Bi-mart) has a monopoly. All Haggen foods had to do was move across the street.

NASO and Arbiter are not the same company and for Aribiter, having the dominant market position, to even request such agreements may be inviolation of the Sherman Antitrust Act...but I'm not a lawyer.

[bob jenkins]

Most organizations allow "exclusive sponsors" at trade shows and events.

It might be wrong to not allow you to bid on being the exclusive sponsor, but it's not wrong to exclude you once you aren't.

[MajorCord]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Previously noted on this forum here: AssignByWeb problems

I figured it had been, but that doesn't guarantee that the poster here saw it. Thanks for noting that you were the first to break this news though.

[Texas Aggie]

I don't practice anti-trust law and frankly, most of my knowledge in that area came from an undergraduate economics class on the subject (one of the best classes I took, incidentally), but basically, you don't have much of a case. NASO and the NCAA are free to contract with whomever they choose and close everyone else out. They use Wilson basketballs in the NCAA men's tournament and are currently using Rawlings (I believe, unless something chnaged) baseballs for the CWS. Spalding, Easton, Worth, etc. are all SOL and I'm sure they feel the same way you do.

Get on a plane, go to Wisconsin or wherever NASO's HQs are, get an appointment, and show them how your system is better.

Incidentally, one thing you and your competitors could do a MUCH better job of is showing how your software works to the average user without requiring IRS level information to get a demo. I don't do any assigning, but I'm in a position to make recommendations IF I were able to demo a product and could persuade the folks I work with that a product is better than what we are using now.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

Incidentally, one thing you and your competitors could do a MUCH better job of is showing how your software works to the average user without requiring IRS level information to get a demo. I don't do any assigning, but I'm in a position to make recommendations IF I were able to demo a product and could persuade the folks I work with that a product is better than what we are using now.

You know what I require to get a demo?

Basically, you just need to ask.

We have a sample association that you can try out for free with basically no information needed....although I appreciate at least a name and email address/phone number. It is semi-public and may be potentially used for testing by others as well as for internal testing so some things might change from underneath you (but that is not too likely at any given moment).


If you want a "private" demo...one set up specifically for your organization, We request only a few things....

1. Organization's name
2. Organization's abbreviation
3. A name
4. An email address

And you can even lie about all of it but the email...which is needed to send a password.

With that, I can usually have you up and running about 10 minutes after I get the request.

Of course, for full configuration, you might wish to send up a lot more info....rosters and such...but we don't need any of that to set up the demo.

Then, if you like it, the demo account becomes the real account...don't need to redo anything.