Winning Doesn't Matter In Pro Sports

    The MLB lockout has proved one thing, American pro sports franchises do not care about winning. Why should they though? They make billions of dollars regardless of how the team does and there is virtually no down side to being the worst. 

    In all professional sports here the last place teams get the top draft picks which is to promote competitive balance. The success of this has varied from sport to sport. 

    If I was owning a sports team why would I spend any money to have a winning team? I can lose every game while still making a profit then get a top young talent in return. Then sign cheap young players and they could become good players. While they lose I make money and if they do become good and win I still make money: win-win.

    The club soccer model from Europe will never come over to America because the owners are running the leagues. In their system the worst teams are relegated to the lower league while the top team from the lower league is promoted. 

    Oddly enough the NCAA operates similarly to this and that's "not professional". They have the Power 5 conferences that schools want to be in because they're the most competitive and bring in the most money. That's why we see conference realignment so often now. Houston and Cincinnati are both moving up to the Big 12 because they've been successful for years in lower conferences. 

    There are moves though that are still based on money like Texas going to the SEC. Texas claims to be a good football program, they're not, but they do bring in a ton of money. 

    This system promotes competition too because if you don't win then top recruits don't want to go to your school. There's no tanking in college, either win or become irrelevant.

    Can professional sports be fixed though and do they need to be? In a word: No. But, that doesn't mean they're bad they still get more viewers than college and are easier to cheer for. In the end the system won't change and the MLB lockout has show that the only difference is that he players want to be in on the scam.