So here's a question for those interested in the history of sports that's just occurred to me: Why did the US never develop promotion and relegation?
Sure, the NFL, the NBA, they're franchises, not clubs, they never had much of a minor league system. But way back in the day, in the times of Honus Wagner and the first world series, minor league baseball was huge, every neighborhood had their own little team, and the idea of affiliates wasn't invented yet. Why didn't the top minor league teams start getting promoted, especially considering the dueling leagues would want to bring in the most talented clubs possible?
Nerd alert y'all.
Bumping because this interests me, as I European I've been thinking about this aswell
Watch Ken Burns' "Baseball" documentary. It covers everything.
>>63799420
>dueling leagues wanting to bring in talent
there's your answer. talent would bring itself from the minors to the majors, and any league that had a chance of relegation would be at a disadvantage recruiting talent with the risk of relegation. talent wants security.
A big difference between American and Euro sports is the dilution of talent...how many soccer teams are there in the top European leagues? (EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, etc.) All of the world talent is spread amongst a ton of teams, meaning you can get some pretty bad teams that are forced to be good or be relegated.
In American leagues, we have 30-32 teams or two best players throughout the world. Seriously...the NHL, NFL, NBA and MLB are all tiers above their closest competitors. The talent is more compact and and he level of play is generally better
Add in the fact that American sports are socialist....salary Caps (other than baseball), draft position based on inverse order of final standings...etc...bad teams aren't really bad for long. Unless you're the 76ers
>>63799420
I think it's because owners saw themselves as partners in a league. Look at the NFL. Without revenue sharing and a salary cap the Jets , Giants and (insert 2 LA teams here) would be the best teams in the league while Buffalo and Jacksonville would ceast to exist. Because big market teams financially prop up small market teams (think NY Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder or Maple Leafs and Predators) the entire league is able to spread its popularity across the country and everyone makes more money. In addition not relegating smaller teams and levelling the playing field with drafts and salary limitations makes the game more appealing to fans of all teams.
This is why in our lifetime MLS may eventually overtake all other soccer leagues and become number one. If soccer was as popular here as the NFL European teams wouldn't even have a chance. In most countries the same four teams are literally the only ones who have a shot at the title. This causes them to spend ridiculous amounts of money on players but only the big clubs can buy the best. Whereas in America most teams have at least one good player worth watching. Hell it's only guys like Messi and Penaldo who make money like LeBron. The difference in talent between the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots is miniscule compared to the gap between Chelsea and say West Ham even though they are from the same city. Hell look at collegiate sports. It's literally the same schools every year that can win the championship. If you go to an average school the only fun in going to games to get sloppy drunk. Same with soccer.
>>63799815
>This is why in our lifetime MLS may eventually overtake all other soccer leagues and become number one. If soccer was as popular here as the NFL European teams wouldn't even have a chance.
I've always viewed it that in US sports players get relegated or promoted while in Europe the teams promote or relegated
>>63799783
Sure, that's why we don't have it NOW, but none of what you just said was true circa 1900.
>>63799815
Same thing, that's true now, but there definitely wasn't revenue sharing in 1900.
>>63799453
whats this, someone posted a thread that isn't all dick waving and meme spam? the nerve
>>63799936
This is it basically. Keep top-flight competition in our biggest cities and make the most cash.
>>63799420
Minor leagues are designed to develop players.
College ball and minor leagues. 18-22 year olds would mostly die.
You take a minor league team and it'd lose. Injuries and bad games would mount. It's stupid to take a shitty tram and rotate them up. It cost money it gets confusing it fucks up the fan base and you have a cluster fuck of leagues
It's a bad plan
