Rubens,
We are talking CONTENTION SET RESOLUTION. If people never create a contention set: then there is no contention set. So .sas is not an example.
.sas as potential contention set. Their solution is the best kind, and should be stimulated by AGB as it makes life simple and cost-effective.
Merck is no example either: They aren’t “joining forces” – hell would freeze over first.
It's their only solution. gTLDs are global, and they are not. They can make an .sas-like solution with GeoIP referencing redirecting Merck AG traffic for countries where they operate as Merck, and the others to Merck MSD.
I submit the following evidence for your amusement:
"Postponement accommodated per request by all members in the Contention Set"
And .online was (as you describe) in the end also no “joining forces”. They might have joined forces to eliminate an entity – but in the end it ended up with one entity.
If you are going to change the bar for every real life example someone finds, we can also stipulate that should be for TLD with 64 letters or more.
Rubens