649. Should Ohio State (and Michigan, and Clemson) Join the N.F.L.?

Soccer leagues around the world use a promotion-and-relegation system to reward the best teams and punish the worst. We ask whether American sports fans would enjoy a similar system. (Part two of a two-part series (freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/the-merger-you-ne…).)

• SOURCES:• Domonique Foxworth (x.com/foxworth24?lang=en), sports analyst and former N.F.L. player.
• Stefan Szymanski (kines.umich.edu/directory/stefan-szymanski), professor of sport management at the University of Michigan.
• Victor Matheson (holycross.edu/academics/people/victor-matheson), professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross.

• RESOURCES:• "'Root, root, root for the home team" did TV kill minor league baseball in the 1950s? (papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=55…)" by Stefan Szymanski (University of Michigan, 2025).
• "European and North American Sports Differences (?): A Quarter Century on (link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-68…)," by Stefan Szymanski (Principles and Paradoxes of Sports Economics, 2024).
• National Pastime: How Americans Play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Soccer (amzn.to/48mlSQ8), by Stefan Szymanski and Andrew Zimbalist (2006).

• EXTRAS:• "When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update) (freakonomics.com/podcast/when-is-a-superstar-j…)," by Freakonomics Radio (2025).
• "The Longest Long Shot (freakonomics.com/podcast/the-longest-long-shot)," by Freakonomics Radio (2016).

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