NFL promotion and regulation ....you know you want it!

[Elta]

Don't you wish you had a semi-pro team in your town?

Well the evil europeans have a solution for you?!

ATM there are 32 NFL teams some good ...some bad and bad for along time at that becase they will allways be pro teams

So here is my proposition for you - The NFL should implement a system of promotion and regualtion for football teams.

For example we add 4 teams to give us 36 teams then we split it up into a 3 groups of 12 and these are seperate leauges but, at the end of each season the 4 worse teams go down a leauge and the four best go up. Thus giving us a system to root out the consistantly bad - boring to watch teams.

We could even have another syatem for teams who can't travel so much.Spilt the country up into somethin like this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Federal_Standard_Regions_map.png
Detemine 8 champions from 8 regions then have 1 game VS another Champion to determine what 4 will go to the third pro division.

You could then split the lower 8 region leauges up and give them all 4 leauge below them.

NFL Preimeirship (12/4 Down every year)
NFL Champions Leauge (12/4 up 4 down every year)
NFL 1st Division (12/ 4 up or down every year)
- * regional leauges 8 leauges of 12 teams (the 8 champs compete for the 4 spots in the fourth division) - 4 may be drop to sub region
- Sub region leauges 4 per regional leauge 12 teams each - 4 up

516 teams .......you know you want it! - is it doable? sure there are 119 college football teams http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2006&div=4&rpt=IA_teamrush&site=org
are you telling me there arn't enouf players? and thats just counting division 1
nevermind division 2 and 3.

If England can do it

The English football league system, otherwise known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in England (although for historical reasons a small number of Welsh clubs also compete). The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, and allows even the smallest club to dream of rising to the very top of the system. There are over 140 leagues, containing a total of over 500 divisions. [1]. The number of clubs is unknown, but an assumption of 15 clubs per divisions implies that over 7,500 clubs are members of a league in the English football league system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_football_league_system
So can we.

So tell me what do you think of this sysytem? + hey we now have pro players from the Mexican colege leauge - I think if we have a top 12 leauge with every game boradcast we could get more international viewers and more international talent etc etc.

So my question to you is would this improve american football?

-We have High school teams with 50,000 seats .... it's doable I am sure of it

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Isn't 4 teams relegated/promoted a little much? Why not 3?

 

[Elta]

Isn't 4 teams relegated/promoted a little much? Why not 3?

It's debatabe - but what do you think of the basic idea?

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Basically all your proposal will do is increase viewers of "premier" games at a serious drop in attendance for bad teams' games. Be real: who's going to go watch a game in the "worse" league when they can see a "premier" game? Even now, games like SF vs. OAK are really not fun to watch - so why create a whole league of them?

 

[Red Door]

There's no minor leagues in the NFL....

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

It's debatabe - but what do you think of the basic idea?

Overall, I wouldn't oppose such a system, but for a league that spans such a large area, travel times might be a big problem. For example, if most of the teams in a league are from the east coast, then that might cause a bit of a problem regarding travel times for a team from the west coast.

 

[Mojotronica]

It would be such a complete, sweeping over-haul of what the NFL is now it would be impossible to implement. The idea itself is interesting though.

Right now there are three (or more) tiers of football, related to the age of the players:

High school (local, very amateur, but it gets covered here in Seattle)

College (big money, competes with and compliments the Pro game for fans)

The NFL (32 teams, the system you're talking about exapnding) + NFL Europe

Then there's Pee-wee football and a bunch of amateur and low-tier pro franchises. If you want a less professional game, you can get it.

What makes the NFL special (and why the XFL for instance failed to compete against it) is the level of quality of play. College football has a built in fanbase and essentially an unltd player pool (so injuries matter less) but you won't see the incredible passing plays you'll see in the NFL.

I think that the reason for the parity issues we're seeing in the NFL today is the diminishing talent pool. There are only so many guys who are physically awesome enough to play at a level that's fun to watch. 32 teams is probably more than is totally optimal for the sport.

That's okay, because I think eventually the weaker teams in the NFL will bounce back. It's hard to imagine the Raiders and 49ers and Dolphins being sucky forever.

 

[Azale]

We have a system of promotion and relegation already in college football I believe. If you can hold 15,000 attendance regularly, then your in D1, if not then your regulated.

For the NFL, I would not want to see a team like the 49'ers or the Raiders relegated. I think the whole idea of relegation (as it's done in leagues around the world) is ridiculous anyway, but thats just me.

 

[Serutan]

This idea would work better for baseball than football, since it already has
minor leagues. While the idea is interesting, there is no way in hell the
owners would ever approver such a thing.

 

[Elta]

We have a system of promotion and relegation already in college football I believe. If you can hold 15,000 attendance regularly, then your in D1, if not then your regulated.

For the NFL, I would not want to see a team like the 49'ers relegated.

You mean the team with the owner who inherited the team and doesn't care about it? ....The one who only cares about having the cheapest players possible in order to maximize his profits I would be willing to bet BIG money that there are 4 or 5 college teams that could take the 49ers - and if so....GOOD! lets get a real team in there.




Cotinuing rant .......The reason people would want to see the lower leauges is because it is not that far feched to think that a local team could eventually come up and reach higer leauges. Yes the people in the lower leauges would make less ....some nothing or just enouf to pay for the equpment but, the main reason for this is so that more people can play. - I help part time (I do it 4 the free after game pizza ) Pee-wee football and I played JV football also (couldn't keep grades high enouf for Varsity ) I think it is a shame that a helmet-single color uniform-set of pads and cleets are only about 200 bucks all together and there are no non profesional leauges around. I would love to play some football on the weekends


At my old High School there are at least 5,000 + seats and every game it is filled up and everyone pays 10 bucks for their seats. (Now all admit alot of people only go their to pick up chicks/guys but to a degree this is true every where) 52 players - 50,000 bucks per game - I figure at least 25% of it would go straight to the players thats 240 per player .....a good part time at the very least as teams move up they could get larger and larger stadiums, recruit from better and better colleges.

Lets say the NFl was split up into 4 regional leauges of 8 each North-South-East and West. the top 2 teams in each leauge play each other then the final 4 champions from each leauge battle for the national championship. you could have 4 even smaller regional leauges below each of the four regions. 4-16 = 160 teams you could set some sort of arbatrai (spl? ) number of 10,000 seat stadium to be in a top 160 leauge and 35,000 for the top 40. 5,000 seat for the leauges under the 10k stadium leauges - then have lower leauges with no requirements. It wouldn't have to be extreme it could just be regulation of the 2 best and 2 worse per league .....just a dream I guess *tear*

You know they saw American sports never got regulation because of the size of the country but; now we have infastruture to make it happen. Well here's to hoping we get some more competitive football.

 

[Elta]

This idea would work better for baseball than football, since it already has
minor leagues. While the idea is interesting, there is no way in hell the
owners would ever approver such a thing.

Condi Rice is trying to become the commisionor (spl?) of the NFL and has mentioned that she like the idea (in an interview with republica deportiva*) * a spanish language sports show on univision. Yes she actually spoke spanish her self too . So maybe there is hope.

 

[Azale]

There already is a new commissioner, his name is Roger Goodell and thank goodness he would never approve of this

What your talking about is ownership. Fine, ownership sucks. You can still have a good team with cruddy ownership. Look at the Chargers, Saints, Bengals, Rams, Jets for examples. There is no way you should punish the fans because they had the misfortune of having some stupid person take over. They will still cheer just as hard and hope for the best, which eventually will come because of our draft system. Unless your the Arizona Cardinals

Plus, it's too late to institute it. I would hate the thought that these teams with such history could just be relegated because of poor CURRENT ownership. Owners come and owners go, generations of fans don't. It would not be well recieved here.

 

[ulsterman88]

I voted no the, i think the stability the NFL has is good as when you look at the history of many relegated teams in England it isn't very good. For example Leeds and Nottingham Forest are 2 of the biggest clubs in England and they almost ceased to exist after having one bad season and getting relegated.

 

[Syterion]

The sport of football is not suited to that style. It's not like football/soccer. For soccer you need a ball, cleats, and shin guards. Football you need pads(you can play tackle without pads, ive done it and its fun, but its a lot harder to tackle people. And with football half the people are the O-line, and there are not enough of those to play with a real formation all the time. And everybody plays soccer over there. Not that many people play football in the states, you know. I'd prefer frisbee, soccer, and basketball over football(in that order). Football is simply too complicated a game to have relegations.

There is simply no way it will work in the US because there is already a huge competitor sucking up the lower level play market-college. That goes for basketball as well.

 

[Zamphyr]

Don't you wish you had a semi-pro team in your town?


So my question to you is would this improve american football?

No, and no. There are tons of semi-pro and amateur teams around, not to mention the abomination that is Arena/indoor football.

I think it is a shame that a helmet-single color uniform-set of pads and cleets are only about 200 bucks all together and there are no non profesional leauges around. I would love to play some football on the weekends

You're in Vegas right ?
Did you know that you DO have a semi pro team there. The Sin City Express.
http://www.semiprofootball.org

 

[Elta]

No, and no. There are tons of semi-pro and amateur teams around, not to mention the abomination that is Arena/indoor football.



You're in Vegas right ?
Did you know that you DO have a semi pro team there. The Sin City Express.
http://www.semiprofootball.org

I stand corrected - I think I should start a local leauge .....

 

[Dell19]

I voted no the, i think the stability the NFL has is good as when you look at the history of many relegated teams in England it isn't very good. For example Leeds and Nottingham Forest are 2 of the biggest clubs in England and they almost ceased to exist after having one bad season and getting relegated.

Neither team has ceased to exist though and both teams still get decent crowds. It is also a well beaten track as Sheffield Wednesday and Man City have been previous premiership clubs that have gotten relegated but bounced back. I feel that its one of the best points of the league system that you get 'sleeping giants' in the lower leagues that will probably return someday to the top and that no team is guarenteed* to be safe.

Additionally both teams had a decline over a couple of seasons. Nottingham Forest had one very good season in the premiership but after that they generally got relegated whenever they were in the premiership and they look like getting promoted back into the Championship. Leeds trouble seems to be more related to missing out on the Champions League as it took them a couple of seasons to actually get relegated from the Premiership and by then they already had huge debts.

*This isn't really the case anymore with the big four teams having so much more money.