English Premier League: Should the EPL Scrap Relegation? An American's Take

When word came out last week that the foreign owners of English Premier League clubs want to end relegation promotion, I had the same thought many of you probably had:

Do they have a death wish or something?

Well, apparently, they're quite serious. As several media outlets have reported in the past week, the Premiership's American and Asian owners prefer a franchising model like the one that exists in all major American sports.

That could eventually mean changes, like strict control on the number of teams in the top flight; having the same teams, always, every year, in the top flight as well as every other tier; territorial rights (as in fewer teams in major cities); geographically based divisions within each tier; drafting of players in an order based on each team's performance the previous season; expansion and contraction of leagues and divisions; and postseason playoffs to determine league champions.

As crazy as it sounds, a move away from relegation and promotion might not be as unbelievable as you think. The reformers would need a two-thirds vote of owners to end the practice, plus approval from the FA itself to get it done.

Should they, though? That's the question I'm after.

Should the Premier League really reverse more than a century of tradition to become more like their neighbors from halfway across the world?

I'm an American who's grown up rooting for teams in all of America's franchise-driven major sports leagues.

My answer might surprise you.

Relegation and Promotion Make the End of Each Season More Interesting

So here's the short version: English football should not end promotion and relegation because the system encourages competition among the greatest number of teams over the widest possible cross-section of the country. Plus, it's unique to the sport and integral to its culture.

The long version begins here with this slide.

Eleven years ago, Bradford City FC won perhaps the most memorable match in club history. The landmark victory came on the final day of the 1999-2000 season, when the Bantams beat Liverpool 1-0.

Nothing was at stake, or at least not at first glance. Liverpool couldn't win the title, and Bradford were hopelessly out of contention.

But Bradford had entered the season's final day needing a victory to ensure it stayed in the Premier League for another season. That might not sound like something to be proud of, but the Bantams' 1999-2000 season had been their first in English football's top flight for 72 years.

Six straight league losses earlier that spring had left Bradford in relegation trouble. But then, wins over Sunderland and Wimbledon sent them into the final day of the season with hope. It wasn't much hope, though, since the Bantams had to get a better result against mighty Liverpool than Wimbledon got against Southampton.

Liverpool also needed a win. With a victory, the Reds would have clinched a spot in the Champions League.

But Bradford won, 1-0 at Valley Parade, their home stadium. Wimbledon lost and Bradford, hailed as miracle workers, stayed in the Premiership one more season before being relegated the following spring.

These days, Bradford play in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football system. Wimbledon as we knew it doesn't exist anymore.

The Dons plunged through the system and became MK Dons. Some supporters formed a new club called AFC Wimbledon.

But for one afternoon 11 years ago, both clubs dominated the attention of the country.

That sort of thing happens just about every spring, especially during those seasons when the title race is decided early. The fight to avoid relegation becomes perhaps the most interesting topic in football leagues around the world. Endangered teams play every game as if it could be their last in the Premiership because that really is the case.

Nothing like it exists in American sports.

In the U.S. version, several teams play several games late in the season that have little meaning. Their only motivation to perform is negative. The worse a team finishes in the standings of most American leagues, the more favorable slot they get in the following season's draft, in which new players enter the league.

Clubs like Bradford never have their day. Fans of the teams that aren't competing for titles rarely have anything to root for late in the season.

Promotion Gives Everyone a Chance

Sports, at heart, are egalitarian.

On the field, everyone is equal. In theory, every team can win it all.

But some leagues are more equal than others.

Take English football, for example. The English league system has hundreds of teams, each of which, in theory at least, can be the best in the country.

By winning promotion from one league to the next, a team can climb all the way to the top.

Remember Wimbledon FC from the previous slide? Today the Dons serve as a cautionary tale for small clubs that get too ambitious and overextend themselves by chasing silverware. But in former years, the club was held up as an example for other small but big-thinking clubs.

For most of its history Wimbledon competed in amateur and semi-professional leagues. The club joined the Football League in 1977 and by 1986 had reached the First Division (then the top league in England).

The Dons remained in the First Division (the precursor to the modern-day Premiership) until they were relegated in 2000. They even won an FA Cup in 1988, beating Liverpool in the final.

Unfortunately for Wimbledon, relegation proved more costly than it should have. Because of monetary concerns, relegation eventually meant more than wins and losses. It meant the end of the club.

But to this day, the lure of the Premiership and its financial windfall serve as a metaphorical carrot stick for clubs around the country.

As Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said:

"

The only place you can make money and realise your ambitions is in the Premier League and you can't take that away from clubs like Nottingham Forest, Leeds United, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday. All these great teams, who formed the nucleus of our old First Division all those years ago.

"

Fergie is right. Promotion and relegation give teams the chance to make it to the big time. The system also allows fans to see more clubs from around the country, clubs that often have long, proud traditions.

Relegation Makes Teams Try Harder

I was astonished recently to find an Aston Villa fan who was in favor of ending relegation.

By the fan's reasoning, teams like Aston Villa would play better without the fear of being relegated. Here's what the fan wrote:

"

Aston Villa are probably the best example of this at the moment. With no fear of relegation clubs could play more attractive football, and take more risks. Defeat would not be so feared, and entertainment would become more important than results for most clubs.

"

I disagree.

If the fear of relegation isn’t enough to make a team play well, why would they start playing better without it? That doesn’t make any sense at all. On the contrary, club owners would have less incentive to field a strong team since they wouldn't have to perform in order to stay in the Premiership.

The Chicago Cubs, from America's Major League Baseball, provide a classic object lesson.

The Cubs were perhaps the most successful club in the National League around the start of the 20th century. The team won the league 10 times between 1876 and 1910, and took consecutive World Series titles in 1907 and '08.

Since then, the Cubs have not won a single World Series. Their last appearance in Major League Baseball's championship showcase came in 1945.

But fans have never stopped coming to Wrigley Field, even in the years when ownership didn't care about fielding a good team.

Without relegation, the Premiership would be full of clubs just like that, clubs with strong tradition and support but without any hope of winning the title.

Lifting the threat of relegation wouldn't make them play better.

Clubs Connect with Fans. Franchises Don't

In England and elsewhere in world football, fans can actually become members of their favorite football club.

Nothing like that exists in American sports, where franchises dominate their fans, their region and everything else.

The closest analog is the NFL's Green Bay Packers, who since 1923 have been publicly owned. With that in mind, perhaps its no surprise that Green Bay, a town of about 100,000 tucked away in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, has more support than franchises from larger, sunnier cities like Jacksonville and Tampa.

If promotion and relegation end, English football clubs would likely become franchises quickly. That would be a shame for fans.

It's Unique, and It's Part of Football

Relegation and promotion are unique to football. More than that, the system has become an integral part of the game.

Everywhere football is played (well, besides MLS), there are also relegation and promotion. I play in a recreational league, in Alabama of all places. The league has promotion and relegation, and in fact, my team recently got relegated. Again.

Look, not everything in the world has to be the same. Not every sport in the world has to follow the American example.

Relegation and promotion make world football more interesting. They make it unique.

Relegation and promotion give the little guy a chance. They create new rivalries and renew old ones. They force clubs to try harder.

Taking all that away wouldn't be any different than taking away the center line.