Before the draft system, the players of the major sports leagues in the United States mainly relied on the teams themselves to sign amateur players, and a certain team took a fancy to a certain player, and directly issued a contract to him, as long as the other party agreed, he could join the team to play, it can be said that as long as the two sides are willing, there is no other threshold.

And this has also caused a phenomenon, that is, rich teams can spend a lot of money to sign some more powerful players, and teams without money can't afford to pay, so they can only sign some relatively weak players. This also leads to the fact that the strong teams are getting stronger and the weak teams are getting weaker, and the big cities can feed the top professional teams, while the small cities can't even afford to feed the amateur teams. In the end, only the big teams are left, and the small teams are left with only one failure.

This continued until 1934, when the University of Minnesota had a student named Stan Kostka, who was a football player, and the University of Minnesota also went undefeated all season under his leadership, so every NFL team wanted to sign him.

Teams began bidding, and in the end, Stan Kostka was offered a $5,000 contract, making him the highest-paid player in the entire NFL.

However, this bidding model has also aroused the vigilance of team owners, who naturally do not want to spend more money, if every player is like Stan Kostka waiting for the price to be sold, waiting for the team to increase the price of each other, then the team's profit will also be greatly reduced, and it is likely that the ticket revenue will not be enough to pay the player's salary.

At the same time, another thing happened in the NFL, when the Philadelphia Hawks, who had a poor record, wanted to sign a player who offered the same pay, but the player ended up choosing a team with a better record, much to the chagrin of the Philadelphia Eagles. So Philadelphia Eagles shareholder Bert Bell proposed a draft draft to the NFL to increase the likelihood that teams would be on par on the court.

On May 18, 1935, at a meeting of the NFL league, the draft was unanimously approved, and the NFL would implement a draft system beginning in 1936. It was also the beginning of the draft system adopted by the four major sports leagues in the United States.

The rules of the first NFL Draft in 1936 were simple, based on the previous year's record, the poor players were selected first, the good ones were selected, and the selected players were allowed to be traded. At that year's NFL Draft, the names of 90 players were written on a blackboard in the conference room and selected by each team. The 90-man roster was based on media presentations, recommendations from team administrators, and recommendations from universities, and eventually 81 players were selected by the team.

However, in those days, being a professional football player in the NFL was not a very lucrative thing, so the vast majority of the selected players did not end up signing with an NFL team to become a professional football player, and only 24 of the 81 players selected in that class ended up in the NFL.

If it is placed in the next generation, it is a very honorable thing to be selected by the NFL team, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a glorious ancestor, you will be proud of your hometown, you will be proud of the elementary school, middle school and college you attended. But before World War II, playing was not a job, but more like a dream.

As for the NBA draft, it began in 1947, which means that the second year after the establishment of the BAA League, the predecessor of the NBA, had a draft.

Now, Chen Qiang also plans to introduce draft rules into the new basketball league in the second year after its establishment.

I saw Chen Qiang holding the draft rules in his hand, and then said: "Everyone, please turn to the fifth page, here is my detailed introduction to the draft rules." First of all, the order of the draft will be based on the previous season's record, the worse the team, the more the first to choose, and the team with the best record, sorry, can only be selected last. In this way, it can ensure that the team with a worse record gets more talented players, which will improve the strength of the team and bring the weak team and the strong team closer to the balance. ”

"On top of that, I've set up a supplemental clause, which allows teams to give up their team's draft picks before the draft and instead pick a rookie from where the team is located, so that the team can get more support from local residents."

For example, in domestic sports leagues, fans will instinctively support their home team, and when it comes to international competitions, fans will instinctively support their own country's team.

It's the same with sports leagues in the United States, as a fan, of course, you will support the local team, and you will also support the local star, and as a star, you will definitely want to play in your hometown, and if possible, bring a championship to your hometown, which is a great thing.

For example, Kobe Bryant, although he has played all his life with the Los Angeles Lakers, he is a die-hard fan of the Philadelphia Hawks, because Kobe Bryant is a Philadelphia, and even if he leaves Philadelphia, he will support the team in his hometown. And Kobe Bryant's situation is not uncommon in the United States.

That's why Chen Qiang set up such a supplementary clause so that the team can give priority to local players, and the main reason for this is to curry favor with local fans.

In this era, television broadcasting is just getting started, and people can hardly see the live broadcast of sports games when they turn on the TV, and the team will not benefit from live TV. In the future, each team would receive a share of the broadcast of the games of the four major sports leagues in the United States on television or the Internet, and in the 40s, without this money, the main income of the team was still from the sale of tickets.

Since it is to sell tickets, it must rely on local fans, and the local fans who go to the scene to watch the game are basically local fans who support the home team, and there will not be a few fans of the away team, so pleasing local fans is a must for the team to operate, after all, these local fans who are willing to spend money to buy tickets to watch the game are the team's food and clothing parents. Appealing to the local fans is also the most important thing for the team to do.

The team owners here are more savvy than the other, and they can certainly see that this additional clause is intended to make the teams attract more local fans.

Seeing that everyone had no opinions on this article, Chen Qiang continued: "Regarding the age of the participants in the draft, I think that between 18 and 23 years old is a more appropriate range. ”

"Mr. Chen, do you have any basis for setting this age range?" Someone asked.

"18 years old is the age of adulthood, you don't need to rely on guardians, you can decide your own things independently, we can't hire child labor, I don't want our basketball league to recruit some minors and cause some unnecessary trouble, so I set the lower age limit at 18 years old. As for the upper limit of 23 years old, it is because as an athlete, at the age of 23, the body has basically been set, and how much potential an athlete can tap can be made, and this age will be clear and clear, so setting a 23-year-old ceiling can avoid the team from selecting some players who have no potential. Chen Qiang explained.

Regarding the knowledge of athletes' physical potential, these people here are definitely not as professional as Chen Qiang, Chen Qiang is a professional athlete after all, and he is also the world's No. 1 athlete, so the conclusion he gave was not refuted by others.

"Mr. Chen, does this age limit mean that athletes who are under the age of 18, or who are over 23 years old, will not be able to participate in the draft and be on our team?" Someone else asked.

"If he's under 18 years old, he can wait, and when he reaches 18, he can naturally join the team. As for the players over 23 years old, we are very sorry that they can only be left out. Chen Qiang paused, and then said: "I know what you're worried about, you're worried that we're missing out on some good players, right?" If a player is over 23 and he's very good, it would be a loss not to get him into the team. ”

The other party nodded: "I do have this concern. ”

"So in the next few years, the draft rules will run parallel to the current free agent signing rules, and players over the age of 23 will still be able to sign, and this will be a transitional phase, and this transition period will be eliminated in the future. My ultimate goal is that all of our players in the future have been drafted. Chen Qiang replied.

"If all the players join the team through the draft, does that mean that those who don't participate in the draft can't be signed by the team?" Someone asked.

"Yes." Chen Qiang nodded again, and then explained: "But please note that I mean that all of our players in the future have participated in the draft, not that all of our players have been selected by the team in the future. ”

"I see what you mean, you're saying that as long as this player participates in the draft, whether he can be selected by the team or not, he can be signed by the team in the future." Someone next to him responded.

"Yes, that's what I meant. For example, if a player goes to the draft but is not drafted, after a few years, his level has become higher, then the teams that are interested in him can still sign him. Since he has already participated in the draft before, there is no age limit for this kind of signing, even if he is thirty or forty years old, as long as both parties are willing, you can still let him play. Chen Qiang explained.

"In other words, participating in our draft in the future becomes the only ticket to enter our basketball league." The man continued.

"You put it very well, to participate in our draft is to come and play in our basketball league. You can think of this as a monopoly mechanism, and I hope that in this way, we can force people who want to be professional players to come to our draft, so that our league can get more fresh blood. Chen Qiang said.

The same is true for the future of American sports leagues, where teams often sign free agents, many of whom are foreign free agents in their thirties, who are not drafted but can still join American sports leagues. It's not that these players didn't participate in the draft, it's just that they weren't drafted at the time of the draft. In order to recruit excellent international players, the NBA has even established a rule that international players over the age of 23 automatically become unselected free agents. As a result, many players who are about 30 years old in Europe or South America can enter the NBA as free agents.

At this time, someone next to him asked, "There are so many high schools and colleges in the United States, and there are so many school-age young people every year, how do we determine the qualifications of players to participate in the draft?" ”

"It's easy, let them sign up on their own! I know that eight years ago, the NFL had a draft in football, and most of the players who were drafted didn't end up joining the team, mainly because many of the players who participated in the draft at that time didn't do it voluntarily. So I decided to let the players sign up and volunteer. In this way, if a player is selected, he will not be discouraged on the spot. Chen Qiang said.

"If a player doesn't sign up himself, then he's not eligible for the draft and won't be able to play in our league? Am I right? Someone else asked.

"Your understanding is correct. On that note, I would like to add that I set the draft age at 18 to 23 years old, a full six years from 18 to 23 years old, and the player has six opportunities to sign up for the draft, and he only needs to take one of those six opportunities to be able to play in our league. We give a player six years to think about it, and he's given up six chances in a row, I don't think that kind of player is going to actually play in our league, don't you think? Chen Qiang asked with a smile.

Everyone nodded in agreement, to say that missing an opportunity is not considered well, missing two or three opportunities may be an accident, then missing six opportunities in six consecutive years, this is certainly not a coincidence, you have been given six opportunities and did not come, such a player really does not plan to play basketball.

Then Chen Qiang continued; "In order to protect the rights and interests of the team, I have specially formulated a rule, if a player is selected by the team, then his signing rights belong to this team, unless the team trades his signing rights, otherwise the player's signing rights will always belong to the team that selected him, which means that no matter when the selected player comes to play in the league, he can only join the team that selected him, otherwise he will have no ball to play."

"Of course, in order to protect the rights and interests of the players, I also have a signing rule, such as the first round of rookies, if the team wants to sign him, they must give him a two-plus-two contract, which means that the first two years of the contract are guaranteed, and the second two years are the team option. The purpose of this is to hope that the teams will cherish their draft spots and not pick randomly in the draft, since you have selected a player, you must pay him a salary, and every choice you make is valuable. I also do this in the hope that the draft rules will continue, and if you pick randomly, the draft rules will not be enforced. ”

"In addition, I plan to set a salary standard for rookie players, and each rookie will get a different amount of salary according to his different draft picks, and this salary amount can be calculated by using the average salary of players in the league to develop a formula. As you all know, if you want a car to run, you can't do it without refueling it, and if we want more outstanding young people to play with us, we have to pay accordingly. There's no way we're going to let the players work for us for free, right? Setting a salary standard for rookies encourages the best youngsters to come to our draft, and the best players will make the game more enjoyable and the tickets will sell better! ”

——————

Bigwigs who have free referral tickets, please support a few, thank you.