# Relegation vs. Farm System **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** basketball-nba, baseball-mlb, hockey-nhl\ **Created:** [November 18, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relegation-vs-farm-system/1024959 "2025-11-18T17:07:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relegation-vs-farm-system/1024959/101 "2025-11-21T16:34:00Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > And my obvious point is that _that’s why college sports are better_, and that baseball should do it the better way. I guessed I missed that obvious point. What is ‘the better way’, and how should baseball do it? Do away with the minor leagues, and encourage all high-school baseball players to play college ball? > [@Thing.Fish](#): > > there’s a meaningful difference between being a FAN of a particular team and being someone who enjoys going to games sometimes Wait, I can’t be a FAN of the Jayhawks and also be someone who enjoys going to games sometimes? ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relegation-vs-farm-system/1024959/102 "2025-11-21T16:43:54Z")
No, don’t do away with the minor leagues. Do away with affiliations between teams in different leagues. Make the minor league teams actually compete with each other to sign and develop players, and let them keep those players under contract until a bigger team makes them an offer they consider acceptable. Basically how English soccer works, and how baseball worked before WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relegation-vs-farm-system/1024959/103 "2025-11-21T17:03:19Z")
Wonderful concept, but you’d better have a whole boatload of minor-league owners with deep pockets to make it work these days. And that’s not going to happen anytime soon. And do you think a young superstar like Bobby Witt Jr. would sign with one of these clubs fresh out of high school? Witt signed with KC and played 3 years of minor-league ball, getting ready for the majors. Which is the route that many, if not most, of the young budding stars take. I fail to see how your proposal would work with guys like these. The agreement that allowed major-league clubs to own minor-league clubs, which led to the establishment of the farm system, was signed in 1921. It’s been around far too long to change. The current system works. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relegation-vs-farm-system/1024959/104 "2025-11-21T18:31:49Z")
Yes, I must concede that, although I think the old system was superior, it doesn’t seem logistically plausible to go back to it. In soccer, the very best young players do sign directly with big clubs, and then are sent out on loan to smaller clubs to develop. Often they will be loaned to progressively bigger clubs for years before reaching the big time. But each loan deal is a distinct arrangement made between equal negotiating partners, no team is ever obligated to deal with any particular other team. In many cases, players who don’t develop as hoped and will clearly never make the big team end up signing long-term deals with the club they were loaned to, at a level where they can thrive. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relegation-vs-farm-system/1024959/105 "2025-11-21T19:13:06Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > In soccer, the very best young players do sign directly with big clubs, and then are sent out on loan to smaller clubs to develop. That, as you have indicated, would probably be the best setup. But it will never happen again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relegation-vs-farm-system/1024959.md?page=5)