Farm team
In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher level at a given point, usually in an association with a major-level parent team. This system can be implemented in many ways, both formally and informally. It is not to be confused with a practice squad, which fulfills a similar developmental purpose but the players on the practice squad are members of the parent team.
Contracted farm teams
Baseball
In the United States and Canada, Minor League Baseball teams operate under strict franchise contracts with their major league counterparts. Although the vast majority of such teams are privately owned and are therefore able to switch affiliation, those players under contract with the affiliated Major League Baseball team are under their exclusive control, and would move to the MLB club's new affiliate. Not all players on a minor league team are under contract with the MLB club; however, the parent club has the exclusive right to "purchase" the contract of a non-contract player at its affiliate.
Minor league teams are usually based in smaller cities (although the New York Mets have a low-level minor-league affiliate actually based elsewhere within New York City), and players who are contracted to them, as opposed to major league players sent down to this level for rehabilitation or other professional-development assignments, are typically paid significantly less than their Major League counterparts.
Most major league players start off their careers by working their way up the minor league system, from the lowest (rookie) to the highest (AAA) classification, with the rare exceptions usually being those players signed from Japan's
The farm system as it is recognized today was invented by Branch Rickey,[1] who – as field manager, general manager, and club president – helped to build the St. Louis Cardinals dynasty during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. When Rickey joined the team in 1917, players were commonly purchased by major league teams from independent, high-level minor league clubs.
Rickey, a keen judge of talent, became frustrated when players at the A and AA levels he had agreed to purchase were instead offered for bid and sold by those independent clubs to wealthier rivals. With the support of Cardinal owner Sam Breadon, Rickey devised a plan whereby St. Louis would buy and control its own minor league teams from Class D to Class AA (the highest level at the time), thus allowing them to promote or demote players as they developed, and "grow" their own talent.
The talent pipeline began at tryout camps that St. Louis
The Cardinals won nine
The existence of the minor league system is due in part to MLB's ability to include a reserve clause in its contracts with minor league players, which gives the major league team exclusive rights to a player even after the contract has expired. In a landmark 1922 Supreme Court decision, Federal Baseball Club v. National League, baseball was granted a special immunity from antitrust laws. Despite the advent of free agency in 1976, which led many to predict the demise of the farm system, it still remains a strong component of a winning baseball strategy. Under the current minor league system (since the last reorganization in 2021), each of the thirty major league teams has four affiliated minor league teams.
Ice hockey
The teams of the National Hockey League also have their own farm teams in the American Hockey League (AHL). For example, the Cleveland Monsters are the farm team for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Additionally, NHL teams have affiliates in the ECHL, although the terms of the most recent CBA (expired in 2012)[needs update] prohibited ECHL players from being recalled to the NHL or being sent down to that league without being assigned to the AHL first; thus, ECHL teams are de facto affiliated to their respective NHL-partner's farm team in the AHL. Although some NHL franchises own their AHL and/or ECHL affiliates, many AHL and ECHL franchises are independently owned, with ties to NHL franchises made through affiliation contracts.
Unlike baseball, not all the players on the rosters of the minor league teams are owned by an NHL team. The AHL system recognizes two types of contracts: the two-way contract (generally the most common among NHL prospects), in which players can be sent back and forth between the NHL and AHL at will, and the standard contract, which binds the player to the AHL. The NHL teams have negotiating rights to AHL players on their farm clubs' rosters and can upgrade a player to a two-way contract if they so desire. Players can also be sent down to the AHL via the waivers system; if a player is not claimed by any team when placed on waivers, he is by default assigned to his previous team's AHL club.
Association football
Internal feeder teams
In many clubs, there will be internal feeder teams. These may be age-restricted teams, such as an "Under-18s" team, or an "A team". For example, in international association football, national teams also operate youth sides—see England national under-21 football team, for example.
In the United States, some Major League Soccer teams previously had reserve teams in the MLS Reserve League. Later, all teams were nominally required to field a reserve team or an affiliate in a professional league operated by the United Soccer League—either the USL Championship, which occupies the second tier of the United States soccer league system, or USL League One, one of two leagues that then shared third-tier status. This requirement was never strictly enforced.[2] In 2022, MLS will relaunch its reserve league as MLS Next Pro, which occupies the third level alongside USL League One and the National Independent Soccer Association. The first Next Pro season will feature 21 teams, all but one of which are MLS reserve sides, with most having been withdrawn from the USL system in advance of the establishment of the new league. All remaining MLS reserve sides will be withdrawn from the USL system after the 2022 season to join Next Pro.[needs update]
In many sports, these feeder teams will compete in their own leagues, though in some cases they compete with other "full teams" at a lower level.
In some countries, such as New Zealand, major teams are organised as regional franchises, and local club sides within these regions become automatic feeder clubs for these regional teams.
Domestic and cross-border agreements
It is also becoming more common for football clubs to arrange formal deals with other clubs with which they originally had no connection. The feeder/parent club connection could have many functions, and be very beneficial both for the feeder and the parent club. For bigger clubs, it is common to arrange agreements with the minor clubs in the area. The smaller teams can provide the bigger team (the parent club) with young talents, and the mother club have an opportunity to send their young players away on loan to these teams ("to farm out").
In addition to local connection, it is increasingly commonplace for teams to have feeder clubs in other regions of the country or in other nations, in order to gain further knowledge. Prominent
League-owned farm leagues
American football
The
In the 1930s, the
In the 1960s and 1970s, several NFL teams had independent agreements with other leagues such as the Atlantic Coast Football League, Midwest Football League, North Pacific Football League, Professional Football League of America and Midwest Professional Football League, to use their teams as farm teams, though they were not owned by the NFL owners, but all of those arrangements ended after the 1972 season. The most recent official minor league, NFL Europe, was different from most other farm teams in that all prospects were pooled and dispersed among the six European teams, instead of having teams assigned to each other.
Many players in the
In the
In Canada, intercollegiate sport has never attained a similar level of following compared to the United States, mainly due to ice hockey being the most popular sport in the country. In hockey, the National Hockey League has historically overlooked intercollegiate sport in favour of other player development models. Nevertheless, the Canadian Football League has established itself as a niche league despite collecting only a fraction of the revenues commanded by the NFL. To recruit talented players, the league to a large extent relies on maintaining rules that are similar enough to American football so as to allow talented NCAA-trained players a reasonable prospect of adapting and being successful in the CFL, while retaining significant enough differences so as to ensure that the league is largely not in competition with the NFL for exactly the same type of players. In addition, to maintain the league's distinct Canadian identity, the league enforces a strict quota of Canadian players that must be on the rosters of all CFL teams.
Basketball
Traditionally, the
Independent teams
Some sports allow the operation of independent feeder teams. In
Such agreements may be less formal; in
In North American baseball, several independent leagues exist outside of the control of Minor League Baseball or Major League Baseball and without any formal developmental agreements, but may still exist as informal places for talent to develop.
Professional wrestling
Some of the more notable ones for
In 2012,
Formula One
Formula One teams often use the most promising drivers from divisions such as the current Formula Two championship, the former GP2 and Formula Two championships, with the majority of the current Formula Two's champions graduating to F1. Ten drivers on the grid for 2011 had previously raced in GP2. Scuderia AlphaTauri also serves as a sort of farm team for Red Bull Racing. Both are owned by Austrian beverage company Red Bull, with AlphaTauri helping to develop cars and drivers for Red Bull Racing. Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel drove for Toro Rosso—AlphaTauri's predecessor team—from 2007 to 2008 and made the move to Red Bull in 2009, replacing the retiring David Coulthard. Every Red Bull driver since the 2014 season has moved there from Toro Rosso with the exception of Sergio Pérez.
NASCAR
NASCAR, the principal body for stock car racing in North America, has an extensive system of developmental series, with the ultimate goal for drivers being a ride in the top-level NASCAR Cup Series. Most Cup Series teams are involved in at least one of NASCAR's two other national series, either running vehicles in the junior series or affiliating with teams that run exclusively in those series:
- The second-level Xfinity Series is the main proving ground for potential Cup drivers, crew chiefs, engineers, and pit crew members. Most races are run on the same weekends, and at the same tracks, as Cup Series races, and Xfinity cars are largely similar to Cup cars (though with some differences, most notably less powerful engines).
- The third-level Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck-based series. Most races are held in conjunction with Xfinity Series races, with many also serving as support events for Cup Series races. Relatively few drivers or engineers jump directly from the Truck Series to the Cup Series; most spend at least some time in the Xfinity Series first.
Below the three national series are multiple regional series. Cup Series teams generally do not participate at these levels, but extensively scout them for future talent.
- The ARCA Menards Series is a semi-professional stock car series run by the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), which was acquired by NASCAR in 2018.[19] The series runs on a variety of tracks, including tracks that host events in NASCAR's three national series. Even prior to the acquisition, the ARCA Racing Series has had a long-standing relationship with NASCAR as a farm system; its vehicles are based on previous-generation Cup cars, with teams often purchasing chassis and engines that had previously been used by Cup Series teams.[20][21][22][23] The series continued to use the previous "Generation 4" chassis used by the Cup Series until 2016, when the series began to phase in a new composite body based on NASCAR's now-former Generation 6 chassis.[24]
- The ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West, which use stock cars with full fenders similar to those in the Cup and Xfinity Series. The series was previously operated under the NASCAR banner until 2020, when it was moved under ARCA.[25]
- The Whelen Modified Tour, operating mostly in the Northeast U.S., races open-wheeled cars with bodies similar to those of other NASCAR cars.
- The NASCAR PEAK Mexico Seriesin Mexico are national series in the respective countries, also using stock cars with full fenders. A few drivers from the Pinty's Series have moved to one of the U.S. national series.
The entry level of NASCAR-sanctioned racing is the
Indoor soccer
The Premier Arena Soccer League is a farm system for the Major Arena Soccer League.
See also
References
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- ^ "MLS wants all its clubs either fielding reserve teams in USL PRO or affiliating with one by 2015". Major League Soccer.
- ^ Gill, Bob (November 1, 1989). "All for One… The Minor Leagues' "Big Three" Make History in 1946" (PDF). The Coffin Corner.
- ^ "Is Kurt Warner the Most Successful Arena Football League Alumnus of All Time?". SportsCasting.com. January 8, 2023.
- ^ "New York Dragons join AFL". AFL Press Release. November 1, 2000.
- ^ "NFL-AFL Teleconference, 2/9/99".
- ^ "PRO FOOTBALL: NOTEBOOK; N.F.L. Ownership Delays Decisions". The New York Times. March 21, 2002.
- ^ a b Rachuk, Stephan (April 24, 2019). "Oliver Luck talks TV deals, Draft and XFL's "Team 9" | XFL2k". XFL2K.com. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
- ^ "XFL & IFL Announce Player Personnel Partnership" (Press release). XFL. October 12, 2022.
- ^ "Alumni in the NBA: 44% Of Players on NBA Playoff Rosters Have NBA D-League Experience". NBA G League. April 17, 2017.
- ^ Graser, Marc (February 16, 2010). "WWE's 'ECW' ends run on Syfy". Variety. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
- ^ "WWE News: FCW name being phased out". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
- ^ Oster, Aaron (February 26, 2015). "NXT, Where the Women Work". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
- ^ Chin, Mike. "The Magnificent Seven: The Top 7 WWE Moments of 2015". 411mania.com.
- ^ Beougher, Wyatt (December 15, 2014). "NXT Is the Best Weekly Episodic Wrestling Show Today, Period". 411mania.com. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
- ^ Harris, Jeffrey (April 15, 2021). "First Post-Wednesday Night Wars AEW Dynamite Breaks Over 1.2 Million Viewers, Surge in Ratings". 411Mania. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
- Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
- ^ Bonkowski, Jerry (October 2, 2019). "NASCAR, ARCA announce new format for 2020; ARCA to take over K&N Series". NBC Sports. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
- ^ Carollo, John (April 30, 2012). "Stock Car Engines and Sanctioning Bodies: Different Groups, Different Rules". Engine Builder Magazine. Babcox Media, Inc. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
- ^ "ARCA again starts its season at Daytona on February 14, 2015". motorsport.com. motorsport.com, ARCA. October 23, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
- ^ "ARCA At 50: Series Presses On While Staying True To Its Roots". stockcarracing.com. February 1, 2002. Archived from the original on February 10, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
- Daytona, Florida. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
- ^ Radebaugh, Don (May 9, 2016). "ARCA composite body cars to make superspeedway debut at Pocono". Automobile Racing Club of America. Toledo, Ohio. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
- ^ Bonkowski, Jerry (October 2, 2019). "NASCAR, ARCA announce new format for 2020; ARCA to take over K&N Series". NBC Sports. Retrieved October 2, 2019.