#1 KEY TO SB MONOPOLY

In the real world a monopoly

exists when a specific individual/enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product/service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it. Monopolies (like the phone company or utilities) are thus characterised by a lack of economic competition for the goods/services that they provide and a lack of viable substitute goods. In other words, they are the only ones that have something you desperately need and charge you "up the wazoo" for it b/c quite frankly ....they can.

The #1 key to creating a softball monopoly is obtaining an ugly inexpensive yet precious paper called a PERMIT

Once you have this little legal document it's PERMIT MONOPOLY POWER

ACTIVATE TIME!!!!!!

As you can create a league to play on a field on specific dates/times and can tell everyone else to go workout elsewhere

if they don't want to pay your league fee and play by your rules. Furthermore, permits are "grandfather'd in" every year meaning if you held it last year and didn't cause any problems you automatically get renewed the following year. This leads to True Permit Monopoly Power!!!! That's why rip-off softball leagues like Yorkoff can charge ridiculous prices b/c they hold every single fall weeknight Manhattan permit and make you pay through the nose to play in their shitty league.

For the record, Inwood deeply values its permit and will NEVER!!!!!!! I REPEAT NEVER let it fall into the hands of unscrupulous softball leagues listed in my classic http://softballinsider.blogspot.com/2010/08/consumer-alert-reverse-psychology.html blog.Fight the Power!!!!!!!!!