If 2 miners mine a block around the same time, it's a race to see who gets to a majority of other nodes first. The more data inside a node, and the further you are out in the boondocks, the slower it travels.
Since the major miners are out in the boondocks and they don't like losing $11,000 (the proceeds from a block), they would prefer a smaller block size.
Of course, the miners could simply refuse to accept transactions. There is nothing stopping them from creating empty blocks, or ones with few transactions, which would zip around the network faster (besides the loss of transaction fees, which is at the current time, very small).
Why they don't do this is that it is a delicate power play. If they upset the market too much by doing controversial stuff such as this, the market may turn on them. Therefore, it's in their best interest to lobby for the rules in their favor rather than acting contrary to the utility of the bitcoin network.
Since the major miners are out in the boondocks and they don't like losing $11,000 (the proceeds from a block), they would prefer a smaller block size.
Of course, the miners could simply refuse to accept transactions. There is nothing stopping them from creating empty blocks, or ones with few transactions, which would zip around the network faster (besides the loss of transaction fees, which is at the current time, very small).
Why they don't do this is that it is a delicate power play. If they upset the market too much by doing controversial stuff such as this, the market may turn on them. Therefore, it's in their best interest to lobby for the rules in their favor rather than acting contrary to the utility of the bitcoin network.