Wednesday, October 19, 2011

No more relegation? Hogwash

A recent story from England that the foreign owners might look to get rid of relegation and promotion, click here. Are you kidding me? For what reason? So they can ensure their little toy stays firmly planted in the Premier League? First of all who would decide this? Would you set a date and say, by 2019 the teams in the Premiership will be there permanently. In recent history, storied clubs like Newcastle, West Ham, Leeds and the likes have been relegated. Some have come back to the Prem some, like Leeds, are still working their way up the ladder. But imagine shutting the door on such clubs from ever coming back to top tier football.

Taking away relegation and promotion is an abysmal idea. Construed by a bunch of owners who have little clue about the history of the game and all they worry about is the revenue stream being in the top flight guarantees. Sometimes I think relegation needs to be brought to US sports, maybe it would make the owners of the Kansas City Royals or Pittsburgh Pirates invest in their teams to make sure they stayed in the top flight rather than just collect the gate, shared revenue and TV money while their team toils in mediocrity.

There are problems with European football no doubt, but one of them is not the promotion and relegation system.

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