Why can't the NBA have promotion and relegation?

It is bad for business. The owners won't allow it. According to the Economist, 43 of the top 50 most valuable sports teams are in North America because of the closed system.

In an 'open' system like European soccer, owners are forced to spend massively on player salaries to avoid relegation.

The fans may have revolted but the advocates of the 'Super league' were looking out for their own interests. There have been many more bankruptcies in European sports due to the inherent nature of that system. See this:

https://www.economist.com/business/2021/04/22/europes-super-...

In my mind it’s a monopoly to have a closed league.

While the NBA does well on per team basis there are hundreds of teams in the “football economy” in Europe. The overall basketball economy is smaller than it might be in an open system. But the owners aren’t going to willingly change. There’s no history or culture of a pyramid structure so there won’t be any political pressure for a open system like there is Europe.

I’ve not watched any E-Sports but I found out this week they have some interesting league structures. I think the innovation and success of e-sports might influence leagues in other sports. I’m not sure it can solve the conflict created owners seeking more revenue and less risk though.

One of the things that is wonderful about sport is the way that it (can) unify people. My even more ambitious dream would be to seed the lower levels of the pyramid by converting NCAA teams to German-style 50%+1 fan-owned basketball clubs. Players could be paid (solving that fairness issue), and the profits could go back to the universities. They already have fan-bases, stadiums, etc., so the infrastructure would already be there.

>What would it take to fashion a proper basketball pyramid here in the States?

You're going to need to out bid the current NBA for players. Get some TV contracts. Some owners / investors who probably don't like the idea of the system you propose.

Pretty big tasks.

The European system is broken in the sense that you have 2 to 5 teams per league being head and shoulders above everyone else. This is because their president are super-rich (e.g. Real Madrid) or because they act as a political shield (e.g. Olympiacos FC) for mafiosi masked as business men.

Just to be clear: I totally dislike the idea of a super-league. Additionally, I dislike the lack of salary cap. The fact that Real Madrid bench could come 5th in a league of 24th teams is hurting the sport. Real Madrid should not be allowed to have more than X number of high contracts, directly or indirectly. In the same vein, when an owner does not have guaranteed income and/or cannot support a soccer/basketball/whatever team, for the good of the sport he/she/they should be stripped away of the license.

There are other issues that come into play like players taxation: The reason the European soccer centre moved from Italy to Spain was because of tax cuts enjoyed by Spain's clubs. A 15 mil/year contract is different in Real Madrid/Barcelona than AC Milan/Juve for example.

Regarding the champions league... The fact that the UK, Italy and Spain have three teams with only 1 or 2 of them playing knock-out games to enter the first fixture is bullocks. I Yugoslavian super-team called "Red Star" would never have won in 1991 if today's system was applied. The current system generates lots of more money at the top leagues, leaving leagues in poor countries starved. This is because the competition is a lot harder: a team from Greece will have to face multiple teams from Italy, Spain and the UK. Additionally, although Olympiacos plays a the "champion" of Greece, Inter Milan might be playing as the 2nd best in Italy. It's not a "Champions League" anymore, indirectly, it s a "who-has-more-money" league already :-)

As many already pointed out. The first thing UEFA needs to do is bring back the "champions league" by banning everyone who does not hold last year's championship from current competition. Allow teams from poorer countries to join the competition. That will drive money to these teams and enhance the competition (a celebrity coach) mentioned something similar on an interview... Instead of having a CL that is becoming competitive around April, it could have been competitive from day one just by turning the CL to a 90s style CL.

Anyway, UEFA now has all the big clubs on their knees. As an AC Milan fan, I'm ashamed of the club's conduct. Hopefully, UEFA will do what needs to be done and finally introduce some sorely needed reforms.

money > competition

I always found it funny that USA has a sports league that rewards teams that perform poorly. Its almost like its socialism. While the socialist Europe has a system that allows for capitalist like competition.