General Draft Question (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

Does anyone know how and why the draft (any pro sports league draft) was set up the way it was?

Other than collegiate athletes no other employment is handled this way

If you graduate with a degree in accounting you aren't told "Congratulations kid, you've just been hired by the biggest CPA firm in Seattle!"

"I don't want to live or work in Seattle"

"Too bad. They have a flight arranged, tell your friends and family good bye and head to the airport"

"I really don't want to go to Seattle"

"Tough shirt. You'll be an accountant at this firm or find another career. have a nice flight"

From a certain point of view isn't that weird?

To have zero control or say on what company and where you'll work for?

Why is this allowed for athletes and nothing else?

 

[Snakehead]

We did something similar to a draft about 12 years ago when I worked at a regional weather center for the Air Force. We had 3 regional flights (teams) for the western United States. We were restructuring to be shift based flights; Alpha/Days, Bravo/Swings and Charlie/Mids. We had each flight's leadership rate their personnel in weather ability and leadership and put them into a database. Then we redistributed the personnel across the 3 new flights evenly to balance everything out so the support no matter what time of day would be the same. From that point on, whenever we got new personnel they were rated using the same scale and since they new personnel would come in groups, they would be distributed evenly to keep the flights balanced. The process was essentially based on sports teams and the new personnel were pretty much drafted.

 

[Lionsaint]

Sports leagues agreed to a draft because otherwise the top teams or teams in bigger/nicer cities would get all the good players. If players could just pick their NFL team who would pick Cleveland or Jacksonville or Atlanta? I mean obviously some would but the majority of top players are going to California for the weather or to teams like KC.

 

[St. Widge]

Does anyone know how and why the draft (any pro sports league draft) was set up the way it was?

Other than collegiate athletes no other employment is handled this way

If you graduate with a degree in accounting you aren't told "Congratulations kid, you've just been hired by the biggest CPA firm in Seattle!"

"I don't want to live or work in Seattle"

"Too bad. They have a flight arranged, tell your friends and family good bye and head to the airport"

"I really don't want to go to Seattle"

"Tough shirt. You'll be an accountant at this firm or find another career. have a nice flight"

From a certain point of view isn't that weird?

To have zero control or say on what company and where you'll work for?

Why is this allowed for athletes and nothing else?

It's all to maintain competitive balance in professional sports leagues. In the real world all the accounting firms aren't part of the same organization that benefits when the other accounting firms are nearly equal to them. In sports, the leagues make more money when all the teams are competitive and as close talent wise as possible. That becomes even more important for betting purposes.

And, they get away with it because they all have Collective Bargaining Agreements that allow the leagues to exists without violating anti-trust laws. Baseball technically has an anti-trust exemption approved by congress years ago. But they more or less work like the other professional leagues because if they tried to bully the players congress would just take away their anti-trust exemption and congress has threatened to do it several times.

Professional sports like soccer in England, Spain, France, etc. don't have drafts. But that's because the interest in the league for teams not at the elite levels is kept because teams can get relegated to lower leagues or promoted if they win.

 

[Super]

Well, obviously different but they’ve always been corporate recruiters who go to prestigious colleges to try and hire the tops of the classes

 

[Optimus Prime]

Sports leagues agreed to a draft because otherwise the top teams or teams in bigger/nicer cities would get all the good players. If players could just pick their NFL team who would pick Cleveland or Jacksonville or Atlanta? I mean obviously some would but the majority of top players are going to California for the weather or to teams like KC.

You can argue that's exactly what happens with free agency though

No one complains about free agents being able to go where ever they choose be it the bigger/nicer cities or the better teams

Why the different systems for seasoned pros vs college players?

 

[Lionsaint]

You can argue that's exactly what happens with free agency though

No one complains about free agents being able to go where ever they choose be it the bigger/nicer cities or the better teams

Why the different systems for seasoned pros vs college players?

Seasoned pros have earned the right to chose after serving their time with whoever drafted them. And the salary cap levels the playing field to a degree.

 

[Lionsaint]

Also college players can refuse to play for the team that drafts them and sit out for a year. I believe Bo Jackson was the last player to do that.

 

[St. Widge]

You can argue that's exactly what happens with free agency though

No one complains about free agents being able to go where ever they choose be it the bigger/nicer cities or the better teams

Why the different systems for seasoned pros vs college players?

Because the veteran players, through their unions, demanded it and insisted on it during collective bargaining negotiations. And, the leagues pretty much so had to agree or they would have ended up violating anti-trust laws. They collectively bargained to keep drafts but allow players to become free agents at certain points. This allows for competitive balance along with some freedom for the players. Google Curt Flood.

As far as college players, that is what has largely lead to the NCAA being forced to allow NIL into college athletics and the opening of the transfer portal. There is a good argument that they players are more or less employees of the universities, and to some extent the NCAA, and they were being denied the right to earn a living by the universities through the NCAA without the rules being collectively bargained. It likely violated lots of labor laws and may have violated some anti-trust laws.

 

[draftfreak]

Graduates of West Point, The Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy do something similar. You get to pick your job and duty location based on your graduation rank. If you finished first in the class, you get to pick any open job at any open base. If your last, you get the leftovers.

 

[Randy Jones]

Y’all remember what Payton Manning did in the draft. He said outright he did not want to go to San Diego and wound up at Indianapolis after some finagling. However, thats the only case I can recall.

If a player is drafted by a team in a city they don't want to live in then they can rent an apartment hang on for four years and then move on.

 

[Lionsaint]

Y’all remember what Payton Manning did in the draft. He said outright he did not want to go to San Diego and wound up at Indianapolis after some finagling. However, thats the only case I can recall.

If a player is drafted by a team in a city they don't want to live in then they can rent an apartment hang on for four years and then move on.

Actually that was Eli and how he ended up at the Giants. And Bo Jackson was draft first overall by the buc but choose to sit out the whole year and then entered the draft again the following year and was draft in the 5th round? Maybe 7th. It’s been too long.

 

[Plow]

Some interesting stuff in the official history of the NFL draft:

Learn the history of the NFL Draft. | NFL Football Operations

The NFL Draft has come a long way from its much humbler beginnings in the sport’s early days.

operations.nfl.com

 

[Randy Jones]

Actually that was Eli and how he ended up at the Giants. And Bo Jackson was draft first overall by the buc but choose to sit out the whole year and then entered the draft again the following year and was draft in the 5th round? Maybe 7th. It’s been too long.

Talk about too long ago. My memory fails a little these days.

Being a millionaire in a city you dont like or playing for a team you dont like is a lot better than being a soldier with no or little money and being in a war zone.