While the college football season is finishing about how I expected it to, and because I have nothing of quality to add to the conversation until it is all over, I am changing the subject for this week's entry.
Promotion/Relegation is something that is familiar to sports fans in Europe, it is not something that is practiced here in the United States. Although some suggest that this could be part of the answer for College Football, it has never been tried or suggested at the professional level.
This is how it works. We will use the English Premier League as an example. When the football (soccer) season is over in the EPL, the three worst teams in the EPL are relegated to the Football Championship League to play next season. In the meantime, the two best teams plus the winner of a playoff between teams #4-7 are promoted to the EPL. For the record, even though the Football Championship League is technically a minor league, it does not a developmental league like the baseball minor leagues, the 20 teams in that league are independent.
Therefore, it would be like demoting the worst team from the American League, the Texas Rangers, and the worst team in the National League, the Arizona Diamondbacks to the AAA level and promoting the best team from the International League, the Syracuse Nationals and the best team from the Pacific Coast League, the Las Vegas 51s.
This sounds like a great idea, at first. What better way to stop your favorite NBA team from tanking than the threat of being placed in the NBA-DL next season? Waiting for an NFL franchise in your town? Well, if you hometown teams wins the minor league championship, you get the the opportunity to move up with it.
But there is a very good reason why this will never happen in the United States, even in Major League Soccer. It's called politics.
In the US, we have the nicest facilities on the planet. We are not like Europe, where they will put billions into facilities for the Olympic Games just to see them waste away in just a little over a decade. When we put taxpayer dollars into a facility, we expect it to be fill to capacity every game day. The average per game attendance in Major League Baseball is around 30,000. At the AAA level, it's 6,000. Do you think any city will put millions of taxpayer dollars into stadiums under the risk that attendance will fall by 80% if the star player blows a knee? That type of spending will cause problems on Election Day. No city in America is sport-crazy enough to see 30,000 fans show up for a minor league team.
It may be just like the example I provided above. Would people in Phoenix really be happy about losing out to Las Vegas?
Fans may eventually understand that this is part of the game, and many fair-weather fans will find other bandwagons to jump on. But if US leagues adopt Promotion/Relegation, we can expect that teams will have to find another way to finance the building of facilities. In the EPL, some teams like Chelsea, play in stadiums that are many decades old. Their stadium was built in late 1800s, and has been expanded, improved and modernized as the years have rolled on. But no public dollars have been involved. While not every stadium in Europe has been built without help from taxpayers, it is rare that this happens here in the US, while it is common in Europe.
This may sound like a godsend to those against public financing of ballparks, the business community may morn. Chambers of commerce love having their city defined as a major league city. Many business deals are made on the baselines and sidelines. For many cities in America, their team is the only game in town. And for some cities, their teams are a source of public pride and positive publicity. For that reason, there will always be pressure on cities to pour money into sports venues and keep their cities at major league levels.
Potential Cities for Relegation Leagues by Sport.
NFL
Los Angeles
Portland
Columbus
Salt Lake City
Orlando
San Antonio
Sacramento
Oklahoma City
Virginia Beach
Memphis
Raleigh
Larger NFL Markets like New York, Chicago, Houston
MLB
Indianapolis*
Charlotte*
Nashville*
Buffalo*
New Orleans*
Montreal
Vancouver
Portland
Columbus*
Calgary
Salt Lake City*
Edmonton
Ottawa
Winnepeg
Orlando
San Antonio
Sacramento*
Oklahoma City*
(*Denotes city with AAA baseball team)
Also larger MLB markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston
NBA
Tampa
Pittsburgh
Seattle
Kansas City
San Deigo
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Nashville
Buffalo
Montreal
Vancouver
Columbus
Calgary
Edmonton
Ottawa
Winnepeg
Jacksonville
Rahleigh
NHL
Houston
Atlanta
Cleveland
Seattle
Kansas City
San Diego
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Indianapolis
Milwaukee
Charlotte
New Orleans
Portland
Salt Lake City
Plus larger NHL markets such as New York, Chicago and Toronto
MLS
Phoenix
Detroit
Minneapolis
Tamps
St. Louis
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
San Diego
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Indianapolis
Milwaukee
Charlotte
Nashville
Buffalo
New Orleans
Calgary
Edmonton
San Antonio
Sacramento
Plus larger markets in MLS like Houston and Chicago
For reference, football (soccer) teams in the London Area (12)
English Premier League (6)
Arsenal
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Queen's Park Rangers
Tottenham
West Ham United
Football League Championship (5)
Brentford
Charleton Athletic
Fullham
Milwall
Watford
League One (1)
Leyton Orient
