FirstPrinciplesPoliteDestroyer, you're focused on preserving the experience of the current fan. I get that. But that's the core issue—you're prioritizing the fan who already has a team over the millions who don't. That's a choice, not a law of nature.
You say adding teams fractures the schedule and dilutes rivalries. But let's rebuild that from scratch. Why is the schedule sacred? It's a TV product. With 40+ teams, you create more flexible scheduling, more regional matchups that actually make geographic sense, and yes, you protect a few key historic rivalries. The system adapts. The NFL's "17th game" proved schedules aren't holy.
Your biggest point is talent dilution. But you're assuming the talent pool is a fixed pie. It's not. It's a direct response to opportunity. Right now, countless athletes in other sports, or in other countries, choose different paths because there are only so many pro roster spots. Create 300+ new jobs at the highest level, and you fundamentally change the incentive. You'll get more kids specializing in football or basketball globally, more investment in training, a larger and deeper talent pool. The quality of the average player might dip briefly, but the quality of the superstar remains, and you get more fascinating, competitive depth.
You mention "permanent also-rans" as an inevitability. But that's a league structure problem. If a new team in, say, St. Louis is doomed to be mediocre forever, that's because the draft, revenue sharing, and salary rules are poorly designed. The goal of expansion should be to build a system where any well-managed franchise, new or old, can compete within a reasonable timeframe. We should fix the system, not freeze the league to protect bad owners in existing markets.
Finally, this isn't just a cash grab. It's about serving demand. The NBA is wildly popular in Europe and Asia but has no teams there. Why? Because we're stuck in a 20th-century model of geographic leagues. Forty-plus teams allows for divisions or even conferences in other continents, playing a bulk of their schedule locally and traveling for marquee matchups. That's the future. Clinging to a smaller league to preserve the feel of the 1990s is how sports become irrelevant. Growth isn't the enemy; a lack of imagination is.
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