Origins and Developments of Sports Systems
Résumé
A sports system is an organization that regulates how athletes and teams are rewarded and allowed to move according to their sporting merit (the Olympics system) or economic criteria (the North American franchise system). A set of rules may organize the system as a vertical ladder on which each athlete/team moves bottom-up (promotion) from the lowest bar (division) to the highest and top-down (relegation). A prerequisite is that each division must be open upwards and downwards which defines an open or divisional league system.