Why different rulesets?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by chapmaja

If it were really a cost, why would the NFHS not use ASA rules for softball, MLB or NCAA rules for baseball, NCAA rules for basketball, ect.

For the reasons given upthread.

What if the profit margin were as you figured--would that be enough revenue to pay for the work of those bodies in preparing the contents of those rule books? How many total copies do you think they sell?

You might as well think public corporations stayed in business to prepare their annual reports!

The rules of the game really are not that different.

By that logic, why would even a single governing body ever revise their rules? The difference between one edition of NFHS softball rules and the next must be less than between theirs and ASA's for the same year.

Governing bodies come & go for sports. When women's intercollegiate basketball stopped being played under AIAW and switched to NCAA, do you think it had anything to do with the business of publishing? How about when AAU dropped its presence in men's basketball? "Oh no, these people outcompete us in rule book publishing! We're out of business."