Quote wrencat1873="wrencat1873"The difficulty with licensing/franchising is that you have a number of established clubs who, in theory, could be jettisoned against a promise on a shiny brochure, proclaiming huge crowds masses of income and shiny new stadia and those entrusted to pass judgement haven't been that good at making those calls in the past.
Going back to the MPG, the analogy by Devils Advocate (about a car crash) is bang on.
It's compelling viewing but, to deliberately decide a clubs future over 80 minutes every season is wrong and it would be better to decide over the full season.
It's strange that the top 8 use the points amassed through the season, to decide which is the "best" team but, at the other end, the first 23 rounds count for nothing.
You said that players would very likely find work elsewhere but, their contracts either carried on or became void at the end of the game, not to mention all of the other staff that work at these clubs.
Under a "normal" promotion and relegation system, a "doomed" club usually has time to make plans for their future but, not in RL.
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I'm not sure that I agree with you here Wrencat, the two teams weren't promoted or relegated based on just 80 minutes, they had each played a full, if disjointed set of fixtures to arrive at the decider. Distasteful and distressing it may be as the season culminates in a very public one off, gladiatorial contest but their previous encounters did count for something, they didn't arrive by chance.
You could also argue that as soon as you are in the middle 8's you have time to plan for the future, Plan A stay up/stay down, or Plan B get promoted/get relegated. I know that you said "normal" and a simple bottom down/ top up situation might be fairer and more clear cut, but, there's no saying going into the last day of the regular season that the day will finish as it started?
