Odd Difference
I was talking with my wife, forestgreenivy, about a difference between US and UK sports. Not the games themselves, or indeed the rules of those games, but the way the sports are organised.
Here in the UK football is very popular. The top teams play each other over the season in the Premiere league. The league has teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and others. I believe there are twenty teams in the league. Similarly in the US they have a popular sport also called football (although a very different game) and a league called the NFL with teams like the Denver Broncos, from my wife's old home state.
But there's a big difference in the way the two leagues operate. In the US the members of the NFL are fixed. If a team has a really bad season then they come last in the league, and presumably try to do better next year. Here things are very different. A team that does poorly will, obviously come last, but here the last three teams in the league do not get a second chance next year.
Here those teams are relegated to the next league down. Below the Premiere league there is the Championship league. The three lowest members of the premiere league have to play in the Championship league next season. While the two highest members of the Championship league are promoted, and the next four enter a play-off to see who will become the third promotion.
Similarly the three lowest members of the Championship league get relegated to League Division one, and so on. There are a series of leagues and below the sixth level the system splits out into a number of regional leagues but goes on down to over 20 levels including multiple levels of clubs that have only part time amateur players.
The UK system seems fairer to me no team has a right to be in the top flight and it encourages teams to do better. Anybody have any thoughts on this?
Here in the UK football is very popular. The top teams play each other over the season in the Premiere league. The league has teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and others. I believe there are twenty teams in the league. Similarly in the US they have a popular sport also called football (although a very different game) and a league called the NFL with teams like the Denver Broncos, from my wife's old home state.
But there's a big difference in the way the two leagues operate. In the US the members of the NFL are fixed. If a team has a really bad season then they come last in the league, and presumably try to do better next year. Here things are very different. A team that does poorly will, obviously come last, but here the last three teams in the league do not get a second chance next year.
Here those teams are relegated to the next league down. Below the Premiere league there is the Championship league. The three lowest members of the premiere league have to play in the Championship league next season. While the two highest members of the Championship league are promoted, and the next four enter a play-off to see who will become the third promotion.
Similarly the three lowest members of the Championship league get relegated to League Division one, and so on. There are a series of leagues and below the sixth level the system splits out into a number of regional leagues but goes on down to over 20 levels including multiple levels of clubs that have only part time amateur players.
The UK system seems fairer to me no team has a right to be in the top flight and it encourages teams to do better. Anybody have any thoughts on this?