Assignment Software Anti-Competitive Practice

[Camron Rust]

Looking for a few ideas....

As many of you know, I'm the owner/developer of RefTown.com, I just tried to get exhibition space at the NASO 2009 Summit in late July in order to make ourselves known....a lot of people just haven't heard of us.

The NASO representative that responded to our application basically informed me that Arbiter has paid and contracted with NASO to not allow any competitors of Arbiter to have exhibits at the NASO convention.

It is one thing to compete on merits of the product but to prevent the competition from advertising or having a presense at industry conventions by force is pretty sad. I'd bet it even borders on illegal.

Sort of says someting about their company and product too.

Any ideas?

[BillyMac]

Here's a picture of the guy who owns Arbiter. Now you know why you can't get exhibition space at the NASO convention.

[Nevadaref]

Sounds like the NASO rules state that Arbiter is entitled to all of the space in the convention area from the floor to the ceiling and you aren't allowed to violate their vertical space.

Just say "anti-trust violation" and mention a call to your U.S. Senator in the same sentence (or local U.S. Attorney's office) and see how fast NASO changes their mind.

[MajorCord]

Dear Arbiter Member,


Part of the NCAA Network We are excited to announce that this summer we will be releasing the Arbiter with a new look, a new name and a new web address.

The enhanced site will be at ArbiterSports.com and includes simpler navigation and improved performance. 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.

Combined with the new site we will soon be releasing new product lines for administering tests, streaming video, registering officials and an improved interface for sharing announcements.

Like many of you, we spend a large part of every day on Arbiter and have a great interest in its ease of use and performance. All of that was taken into account as we built the new platform and the result is a great leap forward.

During the coming weeks more information, Frequently Asked Questions and screenshots will be made available by email and through the current website. When the enhanced site goes live your account's transition will be seamless and you will be notified in advance.

We've been working hard on these changes for a long time and are excited to finally be able to share them with our users. Looking forward to another great season.



Sincerely,

Reid Evans
Founder and President
TheArbiter.net

[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.

[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.

[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.

[BayStateRef]

This tells you a lot about how the NCAA operates. Welcome to the world of big-time sports. When it was independent, I suspect the Arbiter did not or could not afford to keep out its competitors. But the NCAA knows very well how to play this "exclusive rights" game.

As for ideas....this is a marketing question. You need to decide how important a trade show is to reach your desired market. Would other methods work: email, snail mail, etc. Most small start-ups undervalue and underestimate the money needed to market their product. The big guys never make that mistake. Marketing decisions often drive product development; not the other way around.

If this show is really critical to your company's marketing plans, you can still go without booth space. You would have to rent a room or something outside of the convention space and somehow invite folks to see your great product at work. Or you can make up CDs or DVDs and hand them out -- outside the walls of the convention space. Or you can figure out how to rent booth space as a company that is not seen as a competitor of The Arbiter.

I suspect that the cost of most other options will be too high for your small company. I knew a guy who owned a small office supply business. One of his accounts was an NFL team, which he had sold to for 20 years. Then Staples came in and made a deal with the NFL that required, among other things, that all NFL teams use Staples as its exclusive supplier. He had no way to compete with that. He could not afford the advertising, cash payments, exclusive contracts, national reach that Staples could. You may be in that position -- which is that of every small business owner trying to compete against the big boys.

[BayStateRef]

Cameron,

I just read the exhibitor prospectus that NASO put out for this event.

NON-ENDORSEMENT
The exposition of products and services at The Sports Officiating Summit does not constitute an endorsement by NASO of any product or service exhibited. An Exhibitor is not permitted to represent in any manner that NASO has endorsed its goods or services.

ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATION
Applications for exhibit space are subject to review by NASO to decide suitability for the Summit and to ensure conformity with Summit standards. NASO reserves the right to cancel or refuse rental of space to any person or company whose conduct or display of goods is incompatible with the general character and objectives of the Summit. Only those companies with a product or service directly related to sports officiating will be allowed to exhibit.

While this provides lots of wriggle room for NASO, I would use this language in my favor. Clearly, your product conforms to the compatibility, character and objectives of the summit. Since NASO does not endorse any exhibitor, I would bypass the sales rep for the convention manager or the executive director of NASO and be quite pushy.

My experience with trade shows (and I have a lot) is that all exhibitors are welcome. The favored companies get better position and often other "perks" -- which they usually pay for. If you really want to be here, I think you should try harder. If you need help, send me a private message.