No, not that either. NA sports are not dominated by big, rich teams. Their leagues are designed to make it almost impossible for anyone to dominate year after year, and big, popular clubs are often not very good. It's a highly regulated corporate franchise, geared to make all participants profitable. There aren't any "no marks" - every club has a realistic potential to win a title in the next decade.
But, there is an absolute division line between being in the cartel and not being in the cartel. If you're not, you're not. And if you are, you can be as bad as you like.