04/19/24
November 30, 2005
American No Promoter of Relegation: "Promotion and relegation won't ever happen here in the States," writes Fox Soccer commentator Jamie Trecker. "Granted, promotion and relegation is fun to watch and nostalgic to think about as well. But it kills clubs worldwide."
I think it would be good for the "grass roots" level of American soccer. True the league needs to get many more years of stability under its belt before it could happen, but the chance that some small club could slowly but surely be in the top flight is exciting.
posted by tadley86 at 03:24 PM on November 30, 2005
I've been a fan of relegation ever since a football-loving friend explained it to me. If we had it in U.S. pro sports, we wouldn't have the Bidwells, Fords, and Browns running NFL franchises into the ground. By now, they'd be running Arena2 franchises into the ground.
posted by rcade at 04:50 PM on November 30, 2005
No promotion/relegation equals a guaranteed share of revenue. How many clubs are going to vote against that?
posted by owlhouse at 07:23 PM on November 30, 2005
I can't wait for this to happen... It WILL happen.
posted by StarFucker at 12:13 AM on December 01, 2005
I think there's no chance of this any time soon, not while the league is still expanding and probably not until they dismantle the single entity ownership structure. Trecker also has a good point about why Rochester hasn't gotten an expansion slot, assuming he's right about the owner's financials. I could see this happening (well) down the line, once there are 20 strong American clubs and USL teams are benefitting from the spinoff effect. Especially if that era's Sepp Blatter takes it on as a cause.