American professional sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB, are closed systems; teams with poor records don’t worry about being relegated to a lower division. But what if they did?
There are open soccer leagues around the world, including in the U.S.
Introducing an open league system to American sports could make competition far more dynamic and give small-market teams much greater opportunities to succeed. It would permit clubs performing well to rise through the ranks and encourage an ongoing, league-wide, continuous improvement and innovation imperative.
With no more “franchise lock,” an open system would better redistribute competitive balance than the current system, giving fans more unpredictable and engaging sports outcomes to cheer about.
Regarding compensation, athletes in open leagues have a more direct link between league performance and pay. In those leagues, a team’s success or failure is directly connected to its financial position and, therefore, to how much it pays its athletes. Closed leagues present a different situation: because there is no relegation, teams in a closed league can perform at any level and remain financially stable. In that environment, an athlete’s value can seem somewhat disconnected from their performance.
If U.S. sports adopted open league policies, they could become far more exciting, competitive, and fairer. Athletes, for their part, would likely see a direct increase in income due to these moves.
