Even the NBA avoids "perfect meritocracy" at the margins of the league; there's a player's association, the NBA has had a pension since the 60's, there are sala

Even the NBA avoids "perfect meritocracy" at the margins of the league; there's a player's association, the NBA has had a pension since the 60's, there are salary caps and luxury taxes (to prevent super-teams from forming on the coasts), top draft picks often end up on the worst performing teams in prior yeas, each team has to contribute players to new rosters whenever the league expands, etc.