making American Sports Great Again
What is Wrong with Professional Sports and how to Fix It
American Professional sports are in trouble! Attending a professional sports game has become unaffordable for the average person and that is a damn shame. Fewer children are learning how to play in school as schools cut back on sports and fitness programs due to costs, liability issues and changing preferences among the public. Sports teams are losing their connections to their local communities.
Yes, the state of American professional sports is deplorable. But I have a solution.
Making the game affordable!!!
We start by making the games affordable for the average person. My ire is directed against the NFL but my comments apply equally to all the major sports. Right now, if one wanted to attend a professional game one would have to spend hundreds of dollars to get tickets, go to the stadium and spend a small fortune for food and drinks. Totally preposterous in my opinion.
I call upon the NFL to end the practice of only selling high price season tickets to a select few. They should sell tickets at a price that people could afford to attend a game. Perhaps setting the average ticket at 10 dollars? And on game days, sell remaining tickets for 5 dollars. Thereby filling up the stadium for every game. That would generate excitement and generate loyalty among the fan base. Better for everyone than the current system where the average price of tickets are about 100 dollars a ticket if one can be obtained at all.
Expanding number of professional teams
I think that there are too few professional teams. There is a market for football that is not being met. At a minimum there should be a professional sports team in every major metropolitan area, and in some areas more than one team could compete.
There are some obvious places that could and should have a team. Sacramento, California? Portland, Oregon? Reno, Nevada? Salt Lake City? There could be up to 60 teams competing across the country. I would also add teams in Mexico and merge with the Canadian football league as well.
The season should be extended as well so that there are 25 to 30 season games prior to the play offs.
Expanding Overseas
I would expand the NFL franchise worldwide setting up a real league in Europe, Latin America and Asia. Why not? This would apply to baseball, basketball, hockey as well as Football.
Real Super Bowl
I would make the super bowl a real super bowl. I would take the best teams of each of the regional leagues and have them compete with the top two teams playing in the Super Bowl. There is no reason why this could not become the biggest game of the year across the world.
World Cup Baseball
I would change the way the world series is done. Each country that has pro baseball (there are over 32) would choose their national champions and then the champions would compete in a world cup of baseball held in the early Spring. For example, if the SF Giants won the North American series they would represent North America in the world cup of baseball, and represent the US in the Olympics as well.
World Cup for Basketball
I would change the way the way that Basketball selects their champions. Each country that has pro baseball (there are over 32) would choose their national champions and then the champions would compete in a world cup of basketball held in the summer. For example, if the SF Giants won the North American series they would represent North America in the world cup of baseball, and represent the US in the Olympics as well.
World Cup for Hockey
For hockey I would expand the number of teams playing professionally, and expand overseas as well. The top teams would compete for a world cup of hockey to be played in early Summer.
Changing the World Cup for Soccer to a once a Year format
I would change how teams are selected to play in the world cup. Each soccer playing nation would select their national champion who would then compete in an annual world cup. For example, DC United might win the North American series then compete in the World cup to represent North America, and they would also compete in the Olympics.
Adopting local schools and colleges
To develop the next generation of players and fans, I would have the professional teams adopt local school districts and colleges and fully fund sports programs. They would do this in cooperation with the other professional teams in the region. The school districts would have a fully funded sports program. Professional athletes would volunteer to serve as coaches during the off season. The student athletes would be given passes so that they could attend professional games for free. This one action would guarantee that children grown up having the opportunity to play sports and generate excitement for the game among the next generation. And it would not cost the professional team a lot of money, and generate a tremendous amount of good will.
Requiring professional athletes to have a degree, and helping them
Find jobs after retirement
All the professional sports federations would jointly agree that they would only hire professional athletes who have finished their college playing days with a degree. They could compete in the professional league for one year on a provisional contract but must have their degree in hand before they begin their second year. I would make the standard contract five years so that players really become part of their communities.
With the proliferation of overseas teams, I would also bring in the best foreign players as well as letting US athletes play overseas as well.
Finally, after a professional athlete ‘s career is over, the professional teams would make every effort to help the professional athlete stay involve with the game by assisting them in getting full time employment as coaches across the country.
Changing the incentive structure so winning means more money per player, loosing means lots lets money per player
Right now, it seems that sometimes professional athletes are phoning it in so to speak. So, I would change the compensation so that winning teams get most of the proceeds from a game, with the loosing team getting their costs covered. This little change would make the games so much more exciting as athletes would have a real incentive to compete
Setting up a North American Sports Commission to oversee professional sports across North America – Consisting of head of NFL, MLB, NBA, MLSS, Hockey, Tennis, Golf, Bowling, Track and Field and Olympics
I would set up Public private partnership to set policy for professional sports in North America including Caribbean, annual conference after the week after the world super bowl followed by the drafting for professional sports teams (all at the same time) just before the beginning of Baseball, soccer etc.
Thus, the NFL would become the NFL commissioner, etc. The head of the North American professional sports commissions would be the NFL commissioner. His or her job would be to coordinate all aspects of the game along with his/her counterparts in the other sports leagues and the Olympics, Pro Golfing, Pro Tennis, Pro Bowling and track and field.
Each city would have its own sports commission consisting of the heads of the local professional sports teams, and the university athletes’ directors. The sports federation would also have players serve on the commission as well.
With these modest proposals enacted, American professional sports can regain their rightful role in America life.
Jake Cosmos Aller
My thoughts on the dismal state of Baseball and what can be done to bring it back. I sent this letter off to MLB but they never responded. Their lost.
Letter to MLB
Commissioner
Baseball is in crisis. Its long term viability as America’s pastime is in serious question as fewer people especially younger viewers are baseball fans. The solution is for MLB to take bold steps to restore Baseball as America’s pastime if not the world’s pastime.
Here’s my proposal to turn MLB around. It requires bold action, and considerable investment of time and resources to grow the sport.
There are four basic elements to my proposal.
First a dramatic expansion of baseball so that there are major league team teams in every state in the US, every province in Canada, and Mexico, and in the DR, PI, and Venezuela and Nicaragua. That would mean expanding the number of teams to 120 teams from the 35 teams that exist today.
This would not be as difficult to accomplish as you might first think. First you would convert minor league teams into major league teams. You would make sure that there is a major league team in each state in the U.S., each Canadian province, each Mexican State and in the baseball playing countries of the Caribbean, and in Asia and Europe as well, making it a real world sport.
Each team would play mostly in its region which will be as follows:
Northwest League
Southwest League
South East League
Northeast League
Central League
And Caribbean/Mexican League
Asia League
European League
This would make it more affordable for teams to travel as they would mostly be playing against teams in their region.
The leagues would be adjusted a bit to ensure that they are all about the same number of teams.
And there would be intense regional rivals for example in the Bay area there would be regular games between SF and Oakland.
There would also be expansion to ensure that all major markets have a team. For example, in California we would add a team in Sacramento and San Jose. And we would add a team in Las Vegas, and Portland.
At the end of the season the North American champion would be crowned and that champion would advance to the world cup every four years. Otherwise they would just be the national champion. See below for the world cup discussion.
Second, each team would adopt a local school district and local college.
To grow baseball’s future fan, base each team would adopt a local school district and local college fully funding baseball programs in the local school and college including scholarships for talented students to go to college.
This would also involve players and team officials serving as coaches and advisors in the local schools helping them develop and expand their baseball programs.
MLB would also recruit for their teams from the local colleges that they sponsor. And MLB would also only accept as players athletes who have finished their college programs with a degree setting an example to the other major sport franchises that MLB values education and wants to ensure that their athletes finish their education before beginning their professional sporting career.
I think that the NFL, and NBA should follow suit. It is disgusting that major league sports take student athletes before they graduate and then after a few years spit them out without them having had a chance to earn their degrees.
So, MBA should step up to the plate and say,
If you want to play in the majors, you must finish your degree before your first game, or within one year or we will cut you from playing. That would help the student athletes, and well be the right thing to do.
Third, each team would guarantee that a certain percentage of their tickets would be affordable.
Attending a major sports event costs too much money. To grow the fan, base each team would sell half price tickets on game day and one hour before the game sell the remaining tickets for five dollars thus making baseball affordable to everyone. And they would treat the families of their school programs and college programs to free baseball games. And they would also each week sponsor free tickets for those in need – people living in shelters, people living with chronic illnesses etc.
Fourth a world cup format would replace the world series.
All countries that play baseball would be invited to participate in the world cup of baseball. At the end of the season in October the national teams from at least 64 countries would play in the world cup which will be held every fourth year. The US will host the first world cup, and then sponsorship will rotate around all the participating countries so all 64 countries will eventually get to host a world cup of baseball.
Setting up a North American Sports Commission to oversee professional sports across North America – Consisting of head of NFL, MLB, NBA, MLSS, Hockey, Tennis, Golf, Bowling, Track and Field and Olympics
I would set up Public private partnership to set policy for professional sports in North America including Caribbean, annual conference after the week after the world super bowl followed by the drafting for professional sports teams (all at the same time) just before the beginning of Baseball, soccer etc.
Thus, the NFL would become the NFL commissioner, etc. The head of the North American professional sports commissions would be the NFL commissioner. His or her job would be to coordinate all aspects of the game along with his/her counterparts in the other sports leagues and the Olympics, Pro Golfing, Pro Tennis, Pro Bowling and track and field.
Each city would have its own sports commission consisting of the heads of the local professional sports teams, and the university athletes’ directors. The sports federation would also have players serve on the commission as well.
With this modest proposal enacted, American professional sports can regain their rightful role in America life.
If the MLB were to take these steps they would dramatically turn the sport around.
Thank you for taking the time to read my proposal and I look forward to hearing back from you staff and I hope that you can implement some of my ideas and I hope that MLB will continue to expand and prosper.
Thank you
Jake Aller
Life time SF Giant and Oakland A’s fan
Letter to NFL
I write the following letter to the NFL commissioner
NFL Commissioner:
Now that the NFL has approved the Raiders move to Las Vegas, it is time to consider an ambitious NFL expansion program.
The NFL is facing a crisis in a few years. More and more schools and colleges are dropping football programs due to costs, liability issues and the perceived danger of the sport.
Attending a football game is a prohibitive expense for most people. And most people think that the NFL owners are out of touch billionaires who don’t care about the community, and don’t care about the welfare of the players.
Because of these issues the fan base has begun to shrink and will continue to shrink. People have options in their sports entertainment and fewer are opting to spend it watching football.
The NFL must combat these issues and the best way to do is through an expansion program, coupled with plans to make games more affordable and community outreach programs including fully funding football programs at local schools and colleges.
If the NFL caries out these reforms, the game will continue to prosper. If the NFL does not, then football will decline and become a minor sport.
Regarding the expansion program, the NFL should rename itself the North American Football League and merge with the Canadian Football league and then set up teams in Mexico and the Caribbean. Domestically the NFL should ensure that almost every state has at least one NFL team, and many states will have multiple teams. Perhaps 75 in total.
At a minimum, I would make sure that SF/Oakland has a team again, Sacramento has a team, Portland Oregon, and has a team as well as all the other major cities that do not have teams currently. The Dakotas should have only one team, and perhaps Rhode Island could share a team with Delaware. NYC perhaps could have five teams, Chicago an additional team.
Mexico could have five to ten teams, Canada could have five to ten teams, and there should be teams in the DR, PR, Virgin Islands, and Guam.
Then the NFL should set up an European league, (with UK teams) and an Asian-Pacific league with teams from India, China to Japan.
The schedule should be expanded to start in July and end in January. Game days should be Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday to allow for expanded travel.
The North American League should be sub-divided into five zones NE, NW, SW, SE, and Mexico, Caribbean.
Teams would compete within their zones until the play offs with a few inter league games per season.
Along with this I would suggest that the NFL set up a World Cup for Football and replace the Super bowl with an American Bowl followed by World Cup championship perhaps every four years. The way the new super bowl would work is that each country that plays American football would send their championship teams to the Super bowl. There are about 10 to 20 countries that play American style football. the idea would be a round robin with the champions of each nation competing with the two finalists going one on one.
For the first super bowl the North American champions would host it, then afterwards the North American team would have to compete for the bowl slot. The major difference between the super bowl and the world cup would be that there would not be national teams competing rather each country would send their top winning team which wins their national championship forward.
I would also suggest that the NFL create a formal partnership with local Universities and local school districts. The NFL teams could adopt local high schools and colleges where they would provide support, training, tickets and scholarships to students to play football at college. the support for the local schools would be covering the cost of having local football teams at each high school in the districts that are nearest the host affiliate.
The cost of having football programs at high school and colleges is prohibitive for many districts and smaller colleges which inhibit the growth and development of the game. You have to grow fans by growing players and support at the local level. It is time that the NFL show some real leadership to develop the game that we all love.
The top graduating students from those local colleges would be invited to compete each year to join the local NFL affiliate. And I would require that all college athletics competing to join a NFL team must graduate before being able to play. Having a graduation rule would send a very positive signal that the NFL really supports the idea of the student athletic program and would guarantee that those players who only play one or two seasons at least have their college degree behind them.
Doing this community outreach on a major scale will help tremendously expand the base for football and grow new generations of fans. The cost would be modest but the payoff would be tremendous.
The final part of the outreach program should be making attending a game affordable again. To be frank attending a game is a huge expense for most people. I would reserve 25 percent of tickets for same day sales at a deep discount with tickets being given out for free just before the game. And I would ensue that 10 percent of the tickets cost 10 dollars each. I would also sponsor free tickets for various groups including nursing homes, veteran groups and community groups at each game.
This will fill the stadiums, increase revenue and increase the excitement of the game making attending a game affordable again.
A final point, the NFL should partner with the local cities, and other sports teams to build and maintain a world class multi-use stadium. There is no reason why the stadium could not be shared by the other sports teams, colleges and school districts. And be made available for special events. The city should own and manage the facility but a board of directors with representatives from the various other teams, universities and high schools should be on the board of directors. The stadium should also feature mostly local brands. The cost of building the stadium should be jointly shared but the NFL should pay the lion’s share of the cost as a good will gesture.
Setting up a North American Sports Commission to oversee professional sports across North America – Consisting of head of NFL, MLB, NBA, MLSS, Hockey, Tennis, Golf, Bowling, Track and Field and Olympics
I would set up Public private partnership to set policy for professional sports in North America including Caribbean, annual conference after the week after the world super bowl followed by the drafting for professional sports teams (all at the same time) just before the beginning of Baseball, soccer etc.
Thus, the NFL would become the NFL commissioner, etc. The head of the North American professional sports commissions would be the NFL commissioner. His or her job would be to coordinate all aspects of the game along with his/her counterparts in the other sports leagues and the Olympics, Pro Golfing, Pro Tennis, Pro Bowling and track and field.
Each city would have its own sports commission consisting of the heads of the local professional sports teams, and the university athletes’ directors. The sports federation would also have players serve on the commission as well.
With these modest proposals enacted, American professional sports can regain their rightful role in America life.
I believe that if the NFL adopts such a comprehensive far reaching expansion program the sport would become the world dominating sport it should be.
I welcome your comments.
Letter to the NBA
Dear Commissioner,
Basketball is in crisis. Its long term viability as America’s pastime is in serious question as fewer people especially younger viewers are basketball fans. The solution is for NBA to take bold steps to restore basketball as America’s pastime if not the world’s pastime.
Here’s my proposal to turn NBA around. It requires bold action, and considerable investment of time and resources to grow the sport.
There are five basic elements to my proposal.
First a dramatic expansion of basketball so that there are major league team teams in every state in the US, every province in Canada, and Mexico, and in the DR, PI, and Venezuela and Nicaragua. That would mean expanding the number of teams to 120 teams from the 35 teams that exist today.
This would not be as difficult to accomplish as you might first think. First you would convert minor league teams into major league teams. You would make sure that there is a major league team in each state in the U.S., each Canadian province, each Mexican State and in the basketball playing countries of the Caribbean, and in Asia and Europe as well, making it a real world sport.
Each team would play mostly in its region which will be as follows:
Northwest League
Southwest League
South East League
Northeast League
Central League
And Caribbean/Mexican League
Asia League
European League
This would make it more affordable for teams to travel as they would mostly be playing against teams in their region.
The leagues would be adjusted a bit to ensure that they are all about the same number of teams.
And there would be intense regional rivals for example in the Bay area there would be regular games between SF and Oakland.
There would also be expansion to ensure that all major markets have a team. For example, in California we would add a team in San Jose. And we would add a team in Las Vegas, and elsewhere. The goal would be that every state would have at least one professional basketball team to root for. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
At the end of the season the North American champion would be crowned and that champion would advance to the world cup every four years. Otherwise they would just be the national champion. See below for the world cup discussion.
Second, each team would adopt a local school district and local college.
To grow basketball’s future fan base, each team would adopt a local school district and local college fully funding basketball programs in the local school and college including scholarships for talented students to go to college.
This would also involve players and team officials serving as coaches and advisors in the local schools helping them develop and expand their basketball programs.
The NBA would also recruit for their teams from the local colleges that they sponsor. And the NBA, and other professional sports leagues, would also only accept as players athletes who have finished their college programs with a degree setting an example to the other major sport franchises that NBA values education and wants to ensure that their athletes finish their education before beginning their professional sporting career.
I think that the NFL, MLB, MLSS, Hockey, Tennis and Golfing should follow suit. It is disgusting that major league sports take student athletes before they graduate and then after a few years spit them out without them having had a chance to earn their degrees.
So, the NBA should step up to the plate and say,
If you want to play in the majors, you must finish your degree before your first game, or within one year or we will cut you from playing. That would help the student athletes, and is the right thing to do.
Third, each team would guarantee that a certain percentage of their tickets would be affordable.
Attending a major sports event costs too much money. To grow the fan base, each team would sell half price tickets on game day and one hour before the game sell the remaining tickets for five dollars thus making basketball affordable to everyone. And they would treat the families of their school programs and college programs to free basketball games. And they would also each week sponsor free tickets for those in need – people living in shelters, people living with chronic illnesses etc.
Fourth, a world cup format would replace the NBA Championship Game.
All countries that play basketball would be invited to participate in the world cup of basketball. At the end of the season in October the national teams from at least 64 countries would play in the world cup which will be held every fourth year. The US will host the first world cup, and then sponsorship will rotate around all the participating countries so all 64 countries will eventually get to host a world cup of basketball.
Setting up a North American Sports Commission to oversee professional sports across North America – Consisting of head of NFL, MLB, NBA, MLSS, Hockey, Tennis, Golf, Bowling, Track and Field and Olympics
I would set up Public private partnership to set policy for professional sports in North America including Caribbean, annual conference after the week after the world super bowl followed by the drafting for professional sports teams (all at the same time) just before the beginning of Baseball, soccer etc.
Thus, the NFL would become the NFL commissioner, etc. The head of the North American professional sports commissions would be the NFL commissioner. His or her job would be to coordinate all aspects of the game along with his/her counterparts in the other sports leagues and the Olympics, Pro Golfing, Pro Tennis, Pro Bowling and track and field.
Each city would have its own sports commission consisting of the heads of the local professional sports teams, and the university athletes’ directors. The sports federation would also have players serve on the commission as well.
With these modest proposals enacted, American professional sports can regain their rightful role in America life.
If the NBA were to take these steps they would dramatically turn the sport around.
Thank you for taking the time to read my proposal and I look forward to hearing back from you staff and I hope that you can implement some of my ideas and I hope that NBA will continue to expand and prosper.
Thank you
Jake Aller
Life time Golden State Warriors fans
