Came across this a few days ago. Pretty interesting...
"Issues with Pro/Rel:
1. Teams at Top of the Table:
In the past 18 years Manchester City, Man United, Chelsea have won the Premier League 16 of the 18 years.
Leicester won ONCE, and no other small team has won in 20 years. How boring is that? You're going to have to wait another 20 years until a team like them wins again unfortunately...
Other European leagues are just as boring. The Bundesliga has had ONE champion the past 10 years (Bayern Munich)...
La Liga has had only 3 champions since 2003!
PSG has won 8 of the past 10 Ligue 1 titles
Serie A has had only 3 champions since 2003...
There have been 14 different MLS Cup winners since 2002. There's been a different winner each of the past 6 years. One team may suck one year, and then win the MLS cup a few years later. Thats what makes MLS/NBA/NHL/MLB/NFL so exciting year after year.
2. Teams at the Middle of the Table:
They have nothing to play for. They can’t win the league, and they’re not fighting relegation.
In US leagues, the “middle teams” are fighting to make the playoffs
3. Teams at the Bottom of the League:
I prefer a system where the bottom teams can actually turn things all the way around and win the whole league. In the PL, teams 18-20 never improve enough to actually win the league… that’s why pro/rel is boring and sucks.
But here are some examples of how teams at the bottom of US sports leagues improve enough to actually win their respective leagues:
NHL (82 game season): Carolina won only 28 games in ‘03-04 season. Two years later? They won 52 games and won the Stanley Cup.
NBA (82 game season): Cleveland won only 33 games in ‘13-14, to win the NBA Title in ‘15
Celtics won only 24 games in ‘06-07, then the next season went 66 games and won the NBA Finals
NFL (16 game season): St Louis Rams sucked in ‘98-99, then won the Super Bowl in ‘99-00.
New England Patriots went 5-11 in ‘00, then the very next year went 11-5 and won the Super Bowl
MLB (162 game season): Red Sox went 69-93, then the very next season went 97-65 and won the Wold Series
These types of turn arounds to win the title would never happen in the Premier League because:
A. These teams would’ve been relegated
B. The bottom 3 teams only fight to improve just enough to stay IN the Premier League, they never improve enough to actually WIN the league…
These teams are just “fillers teams” for Manchester United, Manchester City, and Arsenal to beat up on.
In any case, again none of these turn arounds would be possible in the Premier League. The bottom teams are like rats fighting for the scraps of food falling off the table where the royalty sit and eat. They’re so busy fighting for the scraps that they don’t see the feast on the table above them…
4. Other US Leagues:
The USA has the greatest leagues in Basketball, Hockey, Baseball, and they grew to the pinnacle of their respective sports without the pro/rel system.
The Spanish Basketball league (Liga ACB) that has Pro/Rel, would it ever overtake the NBA in terms of talent and revenue? Would never happen...
Pro/Rel is antiquated and not needed in US sports. Eurosnobs complain about MLS’s lack of pro/rel because they just can’t accept another country doing something different and have a low tolerance for any change. "