Discussion Thread: How You Would Change Certain Sports Rules

[Spider2024]

Inspired by the 'which sports rule is more unfair' thread that was just posted. Basically a catch-all thread on what rules you would change in what sports or leagues & how. I almost called this a Unpopular Opinions type thread because I know sports fans have ideas for changes that sound outrageous or even unrealistic but you think would still work for the better.

Speaking of unrealistic, I'll give the thread a nice tip-off by saying the NBA should reduce their playoffs to 4 teams in each conference. Again, it'll never happen, because they make too much money off of playoff games during the Round of 16, but seriously, the 5-8 seeds almost never have a chance at winning the actual championship. Not sure what a good added alternative would be for them, perhaps an extra game vs the correlating team in the other conference (aka 5th place in the East vs 5th place in the West, 6th place in the East vs 6th place in the West etc.) for the right to extra ping-pong balls in the NBA Lottery? (Then again that goes into the discussion of how to fix the NBA Lottery, which is its own thick, tangled spiderweb itself.)

[sfvega]

May 9, 2021 6:14:59 GMT -5 Spider2024 said:

Inspired by the 'which sports rule is more unfair' thread that was just posted. Basically a catch-all thread on what rules you would change in what sports or leagues & how. I almost called this a Unpopular Opinions type thread because I know sports fans have ideas for changes that sound outrageous or even unrealistic but you think would still work for the better.

Speaking of unrealistic, I'll give the thread a nice tip-off by saying the NBA should reduce their playoffs to 4 teams in each conference. Again, it'll never happen, because they make too much money off of playoff games during the Round of 16, but seriously, the 5-8 seeds almost never have a chance at winning the actual championship. Not sure what a good added alternative would be for them, perhaps an extra game vs the correlating team in the other conference (aka 5th place in the East vs 5th place in the West, 6th place in the East vs 6th place in the West etc.) for the right to extra ping-pong balls in the NBA Lottery? (Then again that goes into the discussion of how to fix the NBA Lottery, which is its own thick, tangled spiderweb itself.)

Miami was a 5 seed last year and won the East. The NBA just mainly lacks parity due to super teams. Who knows how long that lasts, and it really isn't helped a ton by halving the number of playoff teams. Still top-heavy even at 4, which is kinda sad. For the NBA, I'd just bring back hand checking. Defenders are completely handcuffed these days. And while people want to see the skill, it will still be there with hand-checking. Most of these dudes are 6'7+ with 7 foot wingspans, a handle, a jump shot, and can easily leap over another human being. Those guys don't need more help scoring.

To me, the easy one is NFL overtime and especially in the playoffs. Hell, I much prefer the NCAA's overtime rules because at least it's fair, if repetitive. It sucks to see an offensive shootout end with basically just a coin toss because their lacking defense never even has to take the field.

Also, I'm not a big fan of baseball extra inning rules. Kinda the same idea, but they both get a shot at least. But if the team in the top of the 10th opens up a few runs, ALL of the pressure is onto the home team. I'd 200% rather be the away team in every time.

NHL already bettered themselves by changing the offsides rule about having your skate on/off the ice, which was their biggest issue. Now to crackdown more on offsides challenges to begin with, they'd be pretty good.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

NHL needs no-touch icing. It’s long, long passed time.

[Hit Girl]

Football - Too many to mention, but one would be that a player is onside if any part of their body that can legally score a goal is level with the last defender.

Tennis - All matches, men and women, are best of three sets.

Cricket - All matches, minus test matches, are T20

Boxing - All organising bodies and titles merged. One title per weight class.

NFL, MLS, NHL, NBA, MLB - Promotion and relegation introduced.

[Doctor Of Style]

May 10, 2021 1:31:18 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

NFL, MLS, NHL, NBA, MLB - Promotion and relegation introduced.

None of these have secondary leagues that could move up and compete. If you promoted a minor league team to the pros, they'd look like St. Mary's school for the blind against the pros.

[Push R Truth]

A draw/tie is not an acceptable outcome in any team sport. I'd end these. I tend to prefer the rules that speed up the end. Like NCAA Football where eventually they take away the extra point and force 2 point conversions. Basketball is probably the easiest: "Here's 5 extra minutes". Baseball can turn into a slog but I'm not paid enough to figure out how to speed up extra innings in baseball. Hockey shootouts are amazingly tense.


I believe draws/ties should only exist in 1 on 1 combat sports. Basically don't promote people dying by continuing to fight.

[Gus Richlen Was Wrong]

Permanently eradicate the "designated hitter" rule.

[sfvega]

May 10, 2021 0:20:01 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

NHL needs no-touch icing. It’s long, long passed time.

The hybrid icing is good enough. It's just a race to the faceoff dot with no real collisions or injuries, unless the possessing team wins.

May 10, 2021 1:31:18 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Tennis - All matches, men and women, are best of three sets.

I would hate that, and I suspect many tennis purists would. There have been so many 5-set classics on the men's side. Why would anyone want 3 sets of Djoker/Fed when you can have 5? Conditioning/endurance is SUCH a huge part of the sport, and it's not like major injuries are the norm enough to see the length as a huge detriment. These guys are in ridiculously phenomenal shape that they can play for 5 hours and not have a dip in quality. I understand that these marathons are not going to appeal to casuals, but it highlights so much of what makes the sport great that I would really disapprove if they ever went to 3-set major finals or SFs.

[mc74]

NHL: Get rid of the shootout. I'd prefer the 5 minutes of OT, and if nobody scores, it's a tie. Now I get why people would rather the games not ending in a tie, but for me personally, I've never liked the shootout from day one. Actually, in order to mitigate the chances of ties happening, I'd even go as far as to extend OT to 10 minutes as a compromise.

Also, I'd go back to the old playoff format of the top 8 teams in each conference making the playoffs. It allows for all sorts of different match-ups. With the division-based wildcard format, there have been too many times where we've had the same teams face each other in the playoffs (i.e: Pittsburgh vs Washington, Toronto vs Boston).

MLB: The BS extra inning rule should've never been a thing. It's essentially baseball's version of the shootout, and that's what I hate about it.

[HMARK Center]

May 10, 2021 10:44:32 GMT -5 Gus Richlen Was Wrong said:

Permanently eradicate the "designated hitter" rule.

All honesty, I'm ok with the AL keeping the DH, but I never want to see it in the NL. Putting aside that I just flat-out prefer NL ball, I mostly love that it makes the leagues distinct from one another. Remove all the differences, and it may as well just be the AFC vs. the NFC from the NFL, which hasn't been a "rivalry" since the 70s.

Hell, I'll take it further for baseball: bring back the office of league presidents, but this time actually give them real power, not just the figureheads we have now. Let the NL and AL operate in different ways, let them have some different procedures or rules with regards to on-field play and off-field logistical stuff, and, very importantly, eliminate interleague play during the regular season.

Baseball people have complained that not enough fans care about the World Series or All Star Game anymore. If that's the case, then separate the leagues again, so that when they do play each other it really feels like it means something. I know free agency has caused some of that to slip away, but all the other leagues are thoroughly homogenous with their rules and aesthetics and everything else, MLB could stand out by being the one that allows its two conferences to be really distinct from one another, and add a layer to the fandom people have for their clubs (e.g. "I'm not just a Cubs fan, I'm a National League fan").

Oh, and one more thing for MLB: kill off every "time saving" rule they've implemented over the last decade, and just institute a pitch clock. There are already rules saying pitchers have a set amount of time to throw the ball, and that batters aren't allowed to leave the box at a certain point, but they just don't enforce them. Put in a pitch clock, even if it's just something the ump keeps track of, and instead of a $100 fine the players don't care about, give a batter a strike or a pitcher a ball if they take too long between pitches.

Seriously, ALL of the "pace of play" trouble MLB's had since the 1990s can be attributed to the average amount of time taken in between pitches. Speed them up, and nearly every single problem pertaining to "pace of play" vanishes.

For the NBA:
They should copy MLB's playoff format of three division winners and two Wild Card teams who have a short play-in (either a one game knockout game or a three game series). It's true that the 6-8 seeds in the NBA so rarely do anything, and often they don't deserve to be in at all. It'll never happen due to lost revenue, but the NBA playoffs feel pretty pointless until the conference finals, so this would just make the games a lot more interesting.

For the NHL:
-Remove the damn trapezoid. You made a rule because Martin Brodeur was too good at his job. It was stupid then, it's stupid now.
-Agreed that I'm done with the shootout, just tired of it. Negotiate with the union to make OT's a little longer.
-Maybe consider the Euro format for points: 3 points for regulation win, 2 for OT win, 1 for OT loss, 0 for regulation loss. I'm not married to this one, but it's worth considering.
-Consider making goalie pads smaller. All the talk of increasing offense never seems to come around to this, but there's really no reason why their pads need to be as huge as they are. They can be kept very safe while not looking like Mr. Stay-Puft. Might bring back the era of the athletic goalie, make big saves more dynamic, and increase overall scoring.

[Hit Girl]

May 10, 2021 7:33:02 GMT -5 Doctor Of Style said:

May 10, 2021 1:31:18 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

NFL, MLS, NHL, NBA, MLB - Promotion and relegation introduced.

None of these have secondary leagues that could move up and compete. If you promoted a minor league team to the pros, they'd look like St. Mary's school for the blind against the pros.

It would take time, but eventually a entirely professional league system would develop.

[RKTaker]

May 11, 2021 13:35:38 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

May 10, 2021 7:33:02 GMT -5 Doctor Of Style said:

None of these have secondary leagues that could move up and compete. If you promoted a minor league team to the pros, they'd look like St. Mary's school for the blind against the pros.

It would take time, but eventually a entirely professional league system would develop.

yeah good luck getting players to agree to that especially in Baseball where those players make a ton of money

[Deleted]

The NFL should have an untimed overtime period. f*** a tie.

[RI Richmark]

NBA: I'd abolish the Draft Lottery but if they have to have it it should be ONLY the bottom 5 teams for ONLY the #1 pick.

I'd also utilize the Elam Ending (For those who don't know what that is the NBA All-Star Game used it for the last couple of years). This way we avoid all the constant time outs and fouling that slow games to a crawl at the end of games.

NFL: For overtime each team should possess the ball once. At the end of each team's possessions if the game is still tied then we go to sudden death.

MLB: Pitch clocks, ban shifts and move the mound back a foot.

Also to discourage tanking if a team loses more than 90 games 3 years in a row their first round pick drops 10 spots. the team gets cut off from some of the money from revenue sharing. Owners have to try to field competitive teams not glorified AA teams while pocketing revenue sharing money.

All Sports: With instant replay officials get three looks at the play for a maximum of two minutes. If you can't see anything that would overturn the call the play stands. We do not have all day while you try to determine if the lace of the ball touched the outer webbing of the glove before the front spike of the runner's cleats touched the front of the base.

[RKTaker]

May 13, 2021 19:23:25 GMT -5 @dax said:

The NFL should have an untimed overtime period. f*** a tie.

I might be in the Minority but I think NFL should adapt college football OT rules where both teams have a shot no matter what the outcome of the first team who has the ball is

[häšhtå.gdālėÿ]

RI Richmark Why ban shifts? That’s one part of the new era of the game that I don’t mind one bit.

[sfvega]

May 13, 2021 18:56:09 GMT -5 RKTaker said:

May 11, 2021 13:35:38 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

It would take time, but eventually a entirely professional league system would develop.

yeah good luck getting players to agree to that especially in Baseball where those players make a ton of money

The players wouldn't go for it, but the owners FOR SURE wouldn't go for it. Imagine paying some insane franchise fee or franchise valuation only to not be in the majors after 5 or 10 years.

[HMARK Center]

May 13, 2021 21:41:33 GMT -5 häšhtå.gdālėÿ said:

RI Richmark Why ban shifts? That’s one part of the new era of the game that I don’t mind one bit.

It's one of the tougher arguments I've seen; the much deeper work being done to track a hitter's spray charts is leading to fewer singles/doubles/triples in the game. While the stereotype is that baseball fans wan'na watch some dingerz(!), research shows fans get more excited for hits being strung together, but the positioning of the fielders in the last few years combined with the insane increase in strikeouts is creating less on-field action.

I don't think I'm fully down with eliminating the shift, granted; I prefer to let the players make adjustments over time and just let the game evolve more organically. However, I at least see some merits in the argument for a minor form of it, something like the "need to have two infielders on either side of second base" rule they're testing out in one of the minor leagues this year, even if I'm not sure I fully agree with it.

I definitely agree with reducing instant replay, though. The whole "the most important thing is to get the call right!" mentality is ignoring that the actual most important thing is to make the damned game entertaining, and sitting around for 10 freaking minutes over a non-scoring play is just absolute horse shit and, uh, not entertaining.

My rules on replay would be some combination of the following:
-Teams get only a few seconds to challenge a play. No calling a guy watching a monitor in a booth, if you can't see that a call was egregious from your own dugout/bench, then let's just move on.
-Think about limiting it to scoring plays, ala the NHL...though even they desperately need to fully get rid of overturning goals due to plays being an inch offsides or some such nonsense.
-Failing that, just limit which kinds of plays are open to review. Big one for me: no more replay on stolen bases or slides into 2nd/3rd where the entire argument is "ooh, his foot/hand came off this elevated base for a microsecond, call him out!" @#$% outta here with that nonsense.
-And yes, no replay should last more than a couple of minutes or so. Can't find enough to overturn in that time? Call stands.

To be honest, I'd live with just getting rid of it, entirely. I know, the Angel Hernandez's of the world will keep ruining things for everyone, but to me sports is, at the end of the day, a fun hobby that gives us all stories and experiences to share with one another, and one of the biggest stories we often share is "Didja see our guys get screwed over by that ump?!"

Like, for us Mets fans Johan Santana's no-hitter was a huge deal since it was the first in team history, but it gains extra legendary status because it includes a foul ball from Carlos Beltran, just traded the year before, that replay would've said was fair. To pile on St. Louis a little more, it's 36 years later and we still have people talking about and arguing over Game 6 of the 1985 World Series. I fully understand wanting some mechanism in place to hold really poor officiating accountable (see: NBA refs gifting the Lakers a trip to the finals over the Kings back in the day), but a lot of replay hurts the overall entertainment value, I feel.

[RI Richmark]

May 13, 2021 21:41:33 GMT -5 häšhtå.gdālėÿ said:

RI Richmark Why ban shifts? That’s one part of the new era of the game that I don’t mind one bit.

I feel it's gotten a little out of hand. It used to be that teams just shifted just for the big pull hitters. Now, thanks to analytics, teams are shifting for everyone. And it's cutting down on baserunning which is depriving the game of much needed action.

I know some people say batters should just go the other way but that's easier said than done, especially with pitchers pitching to the shift. So instead many batters try raising thier launch angles to hit the ball over the shift instead which is leading to more strikeouts.

[fw91]

I would give each team a full possession regardless of scoring the first touchdown in overtime. Essentially NCAA rules but full length of field