It seems more civilized somehow, but I can’t see it going over in North America. Our sports system is different.

I went to a football (soccer) game in London. I figured while I was in the UK I should take in a Premier League game, arguably the best in the world.

Many of the team names are familiar to any sports fan: Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal immediately come to my mind. But I’ve never followed the game and so didn’t care what game I want to. I wanted it easily accessible by public transit and it had to fit in with my already scheduled events.

So I would up going to see Leeds play West Ham in the stadium built for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. (I’ll have more on the game itself in a future post.) I was in the 72nd row (of 73) at the end, but it was still a Premier League game. And it wasn’t as I’d I had much choice: when I went on the team website there were two seats left. If I’d waited five minutes I would have missed it.

West Ham was in the middle of the pack, and with a week left in the season there wasn’t much to motivate them other than pride. For Leeds it was quite the opposite. They were facing relegation.

In North American professional sports, the bad teams get rewarded with a high draft pick in the upcoming amateur draft. Sometimes there is an incentive to finished last if there is a potential superstar in the draft year. Hockey, baseball, basketball and football use similar formats.

In England the team that finishes last  in the Premier League is no longer in the Premier League. In fact, the bottom three teams are dropped to a lower level of the sport. And the top teams in the second-tier league get promoted at the end of their season. It certainly is an incentive to play your best. Salaries and television money are smaller in the lower-tier leagues – though at the first few levels many of the stadiums are about the same capacity.

I’m not sure how that would work in North America. There’s a huge difference in arena or stadium size between the top level and lower leagues. I would think a team is at a competitive disadvantage when its paid attendance is half, or less, of what other teams have. But they must have the same problem in England and they have been able to overcome it. Maybe it is billionaire owners subsidizing payroll and expenses. Maybe the TV and sponsorship money is that good.

I think it would be fun to see this happen in North America. But it won’t. No-one wants to change the system. No matter how appealing the change is.