Sports hot take: All professional leagues should allow all of its players to be called up for national team duty for tournaments and friendlies.

[Buzz Rules]

Sports hot take: All professional leagues should allow all of its players to be called up for national team duty for tournaments and friendlies. Meaning for all sports. This would allow sports to gain more interest in all countries and would put the growth of sports before the money of the owners. All leagues in sports should have international breaks set up so athletes have adequate time to gain advanced experience for the highest level national team for their sport.

 

[EACarlson]

Only if the countries are going to insure the clubs against loss to the club's satisfaction. The Hockey World Championships start tomorrow. If Canada wants Macklin Celebrini, the 18 year old phenom that plays for the Sharks, then Hockey Canada should put up a bond of say the players current contract AAV multiplied by the number of years left in the league. In Celebrini's case that would be 15. In the case of Mark Andre Fleury or Sidney Crosby, that number might be 0.

 

[_19disnA]

Not quite sure what you are suggesting. I know in some countries everyone has to fulfill some sort of military obligation. IF you are saying that joining a major sports team would replace that requirement, I would be opposed to that. Some people are gifted athletes and that alone should NOT allow you to opt out of your military requirement. I know in pro golf, someone from S. Korea had to put his golf career on hold for a few years to satisfy his military obligation. Being a talented golfer didn't exempt him from his military service obligation and I don't think it should.

The whole concept of the Olympics being an 'amateur' sporting event went out the window when they started to allow pro athletes to be on various sports teams. Basketball, hockey & golf are obvious ones that come to mind. I know in the case of golf, there are clearly defined rules that apply globally on who is considered an amateur golfer. So clearly it isn't the lack of regulations that required this.

 

[EACarlson]

Not quite sure what you are suggesting. I know in some countries everyone has to fulfill some sort of military obligation. IF you are saying that joining a major sports team would replace that requirement, I would be opposed to that. Some people are gifted athletes and that alone should NOT allow you to opt out of your military requirement. I know in pro golf, someone from S. Korea had to put his golf career on hold for a few years to satisfy his military obligation. Being a talented golfer didn't exempt him from his military service obligation and I don't think it should.

The whole concept of the Olympics being an 'amateur' sporting event went out the window when they started to allow pro athletes to be on various sports teams. Basketball, hockey & golf are obvious ones that come to mind. I know in the case of golf, there are clearly defined rules that apply globally on who is considered an amateur golfer. So clearly it isn't the lack of regulations that required this.

What he's suggesting is that every sports league in the world should pause their seasons if there is an international competition, and require that the athletes be allowed to play for their national teams. If FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, decides to have an international tournament in March, then the NBA should be required to shut down for two weeks to allow the 50 or so out of 400 players to go play in the tournament, and the NBA should be required to let their players play. Basically he wants every sports league in the world to work like European soccer.

 

[_19disnA]

None of us (as far as I know) work in any official capacity for the governing bodies of various pro sports in the USA who actually would make such decisions. Seems rather pointless to have hypothetical discussions on a subject we aren't in a position to influence. Lots of people probably have opinions, but that isn't going to change how things actually work.

 

[lanejudy]

My opinion … no, I am not in favor of mid-season “breaks” for non-league international games. I mainly watch baseball, hockey and basketball. There probably aren’t enough foreign “American” football teams to interrupt that season anyway. I appreciate the Olympics every 4 years; that’s enough international tournaments for me (not counting Canadian teams in the leagues mentioned above).