![\"Maurice](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_orl-os-op-maurice-os_3_1_15766NN0_L271175205.jpg\")
Maurice O\u2019Sullivan is the Kenneth Curry Professor of Literature Emeritus at Rollins College.<\/p>\nJohn F. Kennedy often said that victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan. While that may be true in politics, American sports leagues are filled with wealthy orphans. The Cleveland Browns, the worst NFL team of this century, with a 110-213-1 record between 2005 and 2025, continue as proud members of the AFC North Division with an equal (i.e., $432.6 million) share of the NFL TV revenue and even a waiting list for season tickets.<\/p>\n
Even worse, the penalty for their 0-16 record in 2017 was a bonus, the first pick in the NFL Draft. The only real consequences of failure for our pro teams are frustrated fans and players dreaming of trades.<\/p>\n
As the 2026 FIFA World Cup returns to America (but not, unfortunately, Orlando), maybe we can think about adopting a key practice in most European and South American professional soccer leagues: relegation and promotion. Each year the two to four lowest-ranked teams drop to a lower division and that division\u2019s two to four highest ranked teams move up.<\/p>\n
Relegation and promotion count because lower divisions generate less income, less profit, fewer fans and far less media exposure. It would also mean that after last season the Jets, Raiders, Titans and Cardinals would have been relegated to the UFL or, possibly, the Canadian Football League. Instead, their failure was rewarded by the top draft choices.<\/p>\n
Relegation would also help Major League Baseball and the NBA, With the threat of dropping down a division and being replaced by its Triple-A affiliate, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, maybe the Miami Marlins might actually pay their players and try to win regularly. And wouldn\u2019t a series between the Yankees and Savannah Bananas be a lot more fun than watching teams that don\u2019t seem to care?<\/p>\n
The threat to NBA teams of tumbling down to the G League or even the EuroLeague would certainly stop all the tanking and load management teams embrace once they lose their chance of making the playoffs. Who wants to watch Zion Williamson and Kawhi Leonard sitting on their team\u2019s bench? Imagine how much fun Orlando Magic games would be against the Chinese Guadong Southern Tigers or Euroleague\u2019s Olympiacos Piraeus. At least those teams will try to win.<\/p>\n
Maurice O\u2019Sullivan is the Kenneth Curry Professor of Literature Emeritus at Rollins College.<\/p>\n
Adopting relegation and promotion might also prepare our major leagues to consider another soccer hallmark that Americans loathe. Our winner-takes-all philosophy clearly influences the increasing polarization of our business and political lives and echoes the motto of that great robber baron of the 19th Century\u2019s Golden Age, Andrew Carnegie: \u201cCompromise is usually a sign of weakness, or an admission of defeat.\u201d<\/p>\n
But do we like living in an increasingly zero-sum world where all that matters is Vince Lombardi\u2019s philosophy that winning isn\u2019t everything, it\u2019s the only thing? Unlike our major sports, 20% to 25% of professional soccer matches across the world end in ties. A tie actually offers points and opportunities, just as compromises can create win-win situations for both parties. Maybe our winning shouldn\u2019t always require others losing.<\/p>\n
Maurice O\u2019Sullivan is the Kenneth Curry Professor of Literature Emeritus at Rollins College.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John F. Kennedy often said that victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan. While that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,3224,7,118,110,2438,2437,6,320,2764,115650],"class_list":["post-917799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-chiefs","tag-commentary","tag-football","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-kansascity","tag-kansascitychiefs","tag-nfl","tag-opinion","tag-social","tag-social-opinion"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116743034875823519","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}