# Why don’t European soccer clubs just trade players? Or do they? (LOTS of questions) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 7, 2019, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-european-soccer-clubs-just-trade-players-or-do-they-lots-of-questions/836653 "2019-07-07T03:30:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-european-soccer-clubs-just-trade-players-or-do-they-lots-of-questions/836653/81 "2019-07-13T07:35:27Z")
> [@g8rguy](#): > > I would put it this way: one model provides more equal opportunities for teams to win the competition but less equal opportunities for teams to participate; the other model does precisely the reverse. It’s not clear to me that either is the one true definition of egalitarian. That’s a fair summary, my contention is that the latter is closer to my understanding of the word than the former. It is fair to say that for the NFL there is only really one measure of success, the Superbowl. For football the financial rewards of actually getting to the top tier is the equivalent of a Superbowl and that is accessible for many more teams and isn’t dependent on that success being “bought” by a billionaire’s cash (although investment is always needed, sound financial management, player development and coaching can make this happen incrementally) On top of that are at least 4 major cup competitions, domestic and European that also represent opportunities for success, either by just qualifying for them through league finishing positions or by simply playing well. Your local team can find themselves at Old Trafford facing off against the very best and that in itself is a “success”. The winning of the league itself is not the only thing that matters. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-european-soccer-clubs-just-trade-players-or-do-they-lots-of-questions/836653/82 "2019-07-13T15:38:33Z")
because of TV money all NFL teams are pretty much guaranteed a profit before they sell a single ticket. And almost all games are sold out except in a few places like Jacksonville . ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-european-soccer-clubs-just-trade-players-or-do-they-lots-of-questions/836653/83 "2019-07-13T15:40:10Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > What is the cost of buying an NFL franchise? Carolina just sold for around $2 billion and they are not a large market team. Dallas, NY, Chicago ,etc would be a lot more . Dallas estimated to be worth $5 billion [Forbes: Cowboys most valuable team for 12th year in row - ABC News](https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/forbes-cowboys-valuable-team-12th-year-row/story?id=57965447) ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-european-soccer-clubs-just-trade-players-or-do-they-lots-of-questions/836653/84 "2019-07-13T20:18:32Z")
Does the American soccer league system operate a draft system? I know they don’t have a promotion/relegation system. How does that draft system interact with the other leagues - how do they buy in European players? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-european-soccer-clubs-just-trade-players-or-do-they-lots-of-questions/836653/85 "2019-07-13T21:53:05Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > Does the American soccer league system operate a draft system? I know they don’t have a promotion/relegation system. How does that draft system interact with the other leagues - how do they buy in European players? MLS has a college draft in January of each year [2019 MLS SuperDraft - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_MLS_SuperDraft) I noticed that some teams don’t draft in every round (they pass) unlike NBA, NFL, etc. I guess they don’t want to pick someone who they figure cannot make the team. As far as I know the leagues below MLS don’t have a draft ---
**Author:** ![g8rguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@g8rguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/g8rguy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-european-soccer-clubs-just-trade-players-or-do-they-lots-of-questions/836653/86 "2019-07-13T22:50:20Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > Does the American soccer league system operate a draft system? I know they don’t have a promotion/relegation system. How does that draft system interact with the other leagues - how do they buy in European players? I believe international players are usually acquired via transfer or loan. MLS has [rather arcane roster rules](https://www.mlssoccer.com/league/official-rules/mls-roster-rules-and-regulations). There’s the draft; there are also transfer windows for what amount to pretty standard transfers, but there are all sorts of complications about discovery rights, and allocation order, and so on and so forth. There’s a salary cap, and then various mechanisms to allow teams to pay players more than the cap allows. It’s not the most transparent system around. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-european-soccer-clubs-just-trade-players-or-do-they-lots-of-questions/836653.md?page=4)