While I think that that the setup around SpaceX is better than etc format we have done before, I don't think it is much less of a "cathedral" model. Really the only changes in that model are that now there is a second "cathedral" (SpaceX) next to the other one (United Launch Services), and that "cathedral" is managed a bit differently (less direct government/service-buyer control). Both are controlled top-down.

It is nice that there are other players around this space (Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, etc...), but all of them are currently aiming at much smaller payloads (than Falcon 9), or sub-orbital payloads. Those are different spaces.