OT- Should the NHL/NBA adopt a Europe pro soccer 'relegation' approach?

[psu00]

So I don't follow soccer at all but I noticed this mentioned on TV today (in jest) about bringing 'relegation' to the NHL (or NBA) to keep teams from tanking their seasons trying to get better draft picks. I know this is used in Europe in the soccer leagues and likely would not transfer well to American model used in pro sports but since it's a dead season in sports- 'what if?' I know there are several soccer fans here. Maybe you can give better insight. Just thinking outside the box but- could this happen here? Would you even want it to happen here?

 

[Woodpecker]

How would the draft work in such a model?***

nfm

 

[psu00]

Re: How would the draft work in such a model?***

I don't know. I certainly don't have all the answers to the approach. Clearly other issues would have to be fixed/ altered somewhat for everything to work smoothly. It was just an idea that I had not heard brought up before and thought maybe was worthy of discussion during this relatively dead period in sports, (especially after the game tonight).

 

[LionJim]

Big problem: There is zero parity in European soccer.

Originally posted by psu00:
So I don't follow soccer at all but I noticed this mentioned on TV today (in jest) about bringing 'relegation' to the NHL (or NBA) to keep teams from tanking their seasons trying to get better draft picks. I know this is used in Europe in the soccer leagues and likely would not transfer well to American model used in pro sports but since it's a dead season in sports- 'what if?' I know there are several soccer fans here. Maybe you can give better insight. Just thinking outside the box but- could this happen here? Would you even want it to happen here?

It's not saying all that much, but MLB, NFL, NBA all have much, much more parity than the Premier League, for example. I don't follow La Liga, but I understand it's much worse than in BPL.

 

[psu00]

Re: Big problem: There is zero parity in European soccer.

I have no idea how they do it in Europe- can you tell me how the Premiere league (or others) actually do this? What are the rules of relegation? Do the bottom 1-2 teams each year get the boot or is there more to it?

 

[LionDeNittany]

There's no chance. Zero. Not even worth discussing. No owner...

would vote for a 10% change their franchise becomes worth half the value the next season.

LdN

 

[novaclassof90]

Re: There's no chance. Zero. Not even worth discussing. No owner...

Depmding on the league, bottom 2-4 teams are relegated to lower division and top 2-4 teams from the lower division move up.

Never work in US sport. MLB has affiliate system so the Scranton AAA yankees affiliate is never moving up to MLB. Same goes fo NHL where AHL teams are affiliated. nFL has no minor league and NBA has psuedo affiliates in NBDL. Also, lets say bottom 2-4 teams in NbA drop. Could you imagine the outrage from TV networks if the Knicks or Lakers got dropped this year because they stink. NYC and LA are major media markets.

 

[LionJim]

Here's a link to the BPL "table."

Originally posted by psu00:
I have no idea how they do it in Europe- can you tell me how the Premiere league (or others) actually do this? What are the rules of relegation? Do the bottom 1-2 teams each year get the boot or is there more to it?

Look at the last three teams; they're highlighted in pink. The last three teams get kicked down to the Champions League (BPL AAA, more or less) and the top three teams in the Champions League go up to the Premier League.

Not really germane to this discussion but the top three teams in BPL go on to play in the UEFA Champions Tournament (basically the European championship); the #4 and #5 teams play off to get into the Champions Tournament.

ESPN link

 

[bmw199]

Without a salary cap

Those teams would never stink

 

[SUPERTODD]

It's a pipe dream but how cool would it be if the Sixers actually had to field an NBA team for fear of being relegated to the Developmental League or the CBA? I hate the bull crap American sports has become regarding "parity". If the Cubs can't figure out in 100 years how to win a championship maybe they belong in AAA. Like others have said with the salary cap and ownership structure of American sports it will never happen. It is an interesting thought experiment though.

 

[kgilbert78]

It is a completely different model. In Europe, these are traditionally clubs (places you can actually join and go to--like a country club for golf) and often for multiple sports, though as the money gets bigger, the pro part of the clubs have become corportations and sometimes stock issuing companies. This was true in the early days of US sports too--the Athletics are called that as they were originally part of the Philadelphia Athletic Club, and a number of the NFL franchises were originally the athletic clubs of their employers (the Gren Bay Packers being the best known). But the US went to a franchise model while Europe did not. In a franchise model *no* owner will take the chance that his team could get sent to a lower division and thus lose value. In fact you probably will see a change away from the pro/rel model in Europe at some point for this reason, though in some countries (Germany for one) an individual cannot own a club. This move has already taken place in the German ice hockey league due to the instability caused in a team's finances cause by pro/rel--spend the money to stay up yet fail--and you go bankrupt.

 

[dfm135psu]

Re: Big problem: There is zero parity in European soccer.

Originally posted by LionJim:

Originally posted by psu00:
So I don't follow soccer at all but I noticed this mentioned on TV today (in jest) about bringing 'relegation' to the NHL (or NBA) to keep teams from tanking their seasons trying to get better draft picks. I know this is used in Europe in the soccer leagues and likely would not transfer well to American model used in pro sports but since it's a dead season in sports- 'what if?' I know there are several soccer fans here. Maybe you can give better insight. Just thinking outside the box but- could this happen here? Would you even want it to happen here?

It's not saying all that much, but MLB, NFL, NBA all have much, much more parity than the Premier League, for example. I don't follow La Liga, but I understand it's much worse than in BPL.

The NFL and NBA have parity because of the salary cap. MLB has less parity, and I'd say it's similar to the Premier League parity-wise. European soccer leagues have differences, though. The Premier League has some advantages because their television deal is considerably larger than the other leagues, so a middle of the pack team can offer a player significantly higher wages than a similar team in a different league. This will start having a bigger impact in the near future.

On the other hand, your example of La Liga is spot on. That's essentially a two team league because their finances dwarf everyone else. Occasionally another team may have a good run and compete, but it doesn't last. Cristiano Ronaldo, a single player, has more goals this season than 14 teams in La Liga, a 20 team league - it's absurd how lopsided that league is.


To answer the original question though, I think relegation would be fantastic for American leagues, but it would require that the entire system be blown up and rebuilt - so it'll never happen.