Making pro sports better

[Phidippides]

I've been learning more about soccer leagues over in Europe recently and how they are different from American professional sports leagues.  In particular, the English Premiere League is made up of something like 20 teams, and the lowest-performing teams in the league get demoted to B-league status, while B-league teams get promoted to the top league.  This means there is a real punishment for bad play, and even the worst teams are still playing hard for their very survival.  This is radically different from the way American leagues operate in which the worst teams not only don't get punished, but they also get rewarded via better positioning in the next draft. 

Is the demotion/promotion system something that could make American sports better, or would it not work?  It might be hard with American football (since they're no farm-system), but it could potentially work with MLB, the NBA, and possibly the NHL.  Good idea or not?

[Donald Baker]

I think it wouldn't go over very well here.  People would not remain loyal to a demoted franchise because they would have to demote their fan status with them.  So no the European model wouldn't fly here.

[Phidippides]

Yeah but you'd also have a devoted minor league team which sees its team rise to greatness.  For example, there have to to be a minor league teams for various sports in Louisville, right?  Imagine the fans once they hear their team is promoted to the Big Leagues.

One problem I see is money.  In the NFL, for example, all teams share in at least some of the NFL's earnings (I think around $250 million per year).  If a team were demoted, they'd lose out and would be at a severe disadvantage for rebuilding.  And when a team is promoted up, it's likely going to be very far behind the very top of the league.  I think that is why in English Premiere League, the same handful of teams tend to dominate the league year after year.

[Donald Baker]

Actually Louisville''s minor league soccer team aspires to be promoted to MLS status.  It might work for promotion without fear of demotion in this case.

[Phidippides]

I checked and it said that MLS has 23 teams in the league, and they want to keep expanding.  Yeah, this is one of those cases when a young league can promote teams.  Once the league is set and stops expanding, I wonder if they will adopt that promotion/demotion system for teams at the bottom.

[Donald Baker]

Maybe.  If it works well in Europe, they might try it here.  I know in Louisville that once the team got demoted, it would never recover the fan base.