American sports have been around for decades, but they lack a promotion regulation system that is present in other countries. Only Australia, Canada, Singapore and the United States don’t have Promotion Regulation. Inside they opt for a closed model which prevents teams competing in the minor leagues from being able to get promoted to the major leagues and vice versa with underperforming teams getting relegated from the major leagues to the minor leagues. Such changes would improve sports in the United States by improving viewership, attendance and giving players a reason to continue to play even if they won’t make the playoffs. The players from underperforming teams will have to continue to play good enough to stave off being regulated from the league. This change would also keep viewership high as fans would want to watch the last games to ensure they survive. In England, Survival Sunday has done just that; giving smaller clubs and not well performing clubs much needed viewership. These changes would also give them a boost in attendance at the stadiums to watch those games in person.

Promotion Regulation would promote investment in sports and give owners a reason to be proactive in their clubs success as opposed to a closed model which does not encourage these values. A good example of the second is the Los Angeles Galaxy which have been horrible so far, winning only one game in their last 10 games. The threat of regulation would give owners a reason to invest in their team and not just the team be an asset. Another example would be the Detroit Pistons after they won the NBA finals in 2004. The owners had dropped their investments causing the team to not win a single playoff game since 2008. A regulation would give the owners of the team less money giving them a reason to invest in the team to prevent that from occurring.

A promotion regulation system gives talented small communities with a chance to play with the big teams and knit the communities closer together. For example, if Chino Hills had a local basketball team, the Ball Brothers would have stayed knowing that they could bring a small local team to play in the big leagues. They would bring in investment as the team moved up the pyramid until they reached the majors and obtained sponsorships, ticket sales, and media coverage. With a team that was gaining so much support, this could bring big teams into the area to play the away games against Chino Hills.

There are examples in nations with a promotion regulation system. A Coruña, a small city that has roughly the population of Chino Valley, went from the equivalent of the minor league to finishing in second place in their national league within just four years in the early 1990s. 

In general, promotion regulation would boost sports in the United States by increasing fan engagement viewership and sponsorships, allowing leagues to grow and become stronger.