Ok, so this is just passed the theory stage, but I thought I would see what others are thinking.
Within Google Ad-words, you can set a Max-CPC, and then google gives you a very precise estimated rank. I am wondering if anyone is willing to own up to using this to find out how much a competitor is willing to spend to get the top spot.
This isn't anything that new. Pretty standard fare if you've got an account with a decent budget that wants to push out other competitors.