economics help pls...?

Question

usng the three characteristics of monopoly, explain why each of the ff is a monopolist?
a.) local telephone company?
b.) san francisco 49ers football team
c.) US postal service

Answer 1

what three characteristics?

There are Barries to entry - costs a ton to set up phone or postal network.

There's legal requirement of only one local telephone company and postal service

and I do not see why football team is a monopoly - there are cities with more than one team.

Answer 2

In addition to what has previously been said:
a) The local telephone company is a monopoly because of the high fixed costs associated with this market. We cannont have telephone lines everywhere; therefore, the phone company is allowed to operate as a monopoly.
b) Pro football teams are "legally" allowed to compete as a monopolist because of the draft. Without the draft, teams with the most financial resources would always win.

Answer 3

Are the characteristics like: single provider/barriers to entry/legal protection via patent/unique product with no close substitutes?

Local phone company is a natural monopoly because we assign a sole provider for hard land lines within a geographic area.

49er is monopoly because they are the only pro football team in the area.

U.S. postal service is a natural monopoly because once again we have assigned them as the sole provider of certain mail delivery. They are the only ones who sell stamps, etc.