School Choice and the Market: Lessons from the National Football League

School choice policies assume that market-like competition will create a dynamic educational environment that will produce desirable system-level outcomes, generally defined in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and quality. In this paper, we critically examine the link between parental choice and desired system-level outcomes in the context of K-12 education by drawing on market theory, and the literature on market failure and collective action. We then turn to an unlikely context—the National Football League (NFL)—to explore the structural constraints the NFL has used to successfully balance individual team and collective league interests. We identify lessons that K-12 education can learn from the NFL.