How drafts function across the globe for different sporting events

In today’s world, every league in the world has a different way of signing up new players to make the tournament more attractive to viewers. The NBA has a very different set of rules while the Indian Super League (ISL) and the Indian Premier League (IPL) are similar. The European Football transfer market is entirely different to how the rest of the sports in the world function.With the ISL draft scheduled to take place on the 10th of July, 10 players will be bought in the auction and a lot more to be drafted into the 8 teams, we have a look at the different ways of accumulating a team in major sports across the globe.

#1 Player availability

Yuvraj Singh broke the IPL record when he was purchased by Delhi Daredevil for 16 crores

The players in the Indian Premier League have to be bought by a team in the auction in order to have the chance to play in the league. This is applicable for both domestic and international players. Indian World Cup winner, Yuvraj Singh was bought by Delhi Daredevils for the 2015 IPL for Rs. 16 crores.

In the ISL, 2015 is the first time a few Indian football players will be auctioned and then as per a normal draft rules, teams can select the remaining players to complete their squads. Indian National team captain Sunil Chhetri’s base price for the auction has been set at Rs. 80 lakh, which is the price from which the bidding will begin.

In Basketball, any player who is interested to play in the NBA, international or domestic, has to go through the two-round draft. The player has to be over the age of 19 in order to declare their eligibility for the draft. Satnam Singh who recently became the first Indian to be picked in the NBA draft was chosen in the second round.

As far as European Football is concerned, there is no draft for new players. If a club wants to acquire the services of a player who is not under contract with a different club, they can approach the player directly without any intervention. When James Milner’s contract ended with Manchester City he signed up with Liverpool, without latter actually paying anything for the Englishman.

#2 Buying Players

Real Madrid bought Gareth Bale for world record 86m GBP

In the ISL and IPL, the players have to be bought by outbidding the other clubs for the player to play in their team. Once the player has been acquired he has to represent the club for the contract tenure he signs. So if a player signs a two-year contract with the club, he cannot represent a different club in the same league until his contract runs out.

As far as the NBA is concerned, there is no money involved in signing the player (apart from the player’s contract) as the draft is for college students and international players. If a team chooses to trade the player for a different player they can do so immediately. In fact in the NBA teams use the players they get from drafts to trade for experienced players from other teams. The Los Angeles Clippers gave their first round pick in the draft to the Boston Celtics who let their head coach join the Clippers while on contract with the Celtics.

In football, if a player is not contracted to a different club, no money has to be paid to sign him up, apart from his contract.

#3 Draft Selection process

In the draft, the value for the players is already decided

The rules behind who goes first in the draft vary in different sports. In the ISL, the teams have to select an envelope to decide who picks the first player in the draft. It is the envelopes that decide the order in which teams will proceed with the selection of players.

The NBA follows a very different and interesting concept for the draft. The teams who did not qualify for the playoffs the previous year are placed higher up the pecking order when it comes to taking a pick. These teams participate in the Draft Lottery to decide who gets the first pick. As these were the teams who failed to get into the playoffs the NBA tries to level the playing field by offering the struggling teams to get the best new players in the league.

As far as the IPL and European Football is concerned there is no such problem because they do not have a draft. Both use money to buy players as such everyone is available for the clubs. If a football club wants to buy a player at a different club, they submit a bid for the player if accepted the player can move to a new club.

#4 Salary Cap

A salary cap protects clubs from bankruptcy

Another very important part of such sport drafts in the concept of a salary cap. A salary cap is a limit set by the governing authority of the sport to control the total expenditure of the clubs/teams in the league on the players. The salary cap is different for different leagues and does not even feature in a few leagues.

The salary cap for the IPL stands at $9.2m (Rs. 60 crores) whereas the figure for the second edition of the ISL has been set up at $3m (Rs. 20 crores). What this means is that the clubs cannot spend more money than the allotted amount. This acts as a neutralizing factor for the club as the club does not go end up spending money they do not have.

The NBA has a salary cap of a massive $63m, but this amount usually just includes the salary of the players while top European Leagues do not have a salary cap setup for the club. The amount of money they spend might vary from one season to the other. Manchester United spend almost 150m GBP last summer after having spent just 27.5 m GBP the summer before. The top European clubs do however follow a wage structure which they hardly every break.

The European Football Association (UEFA) have also regulated the amount of money clubs spend on transfers by starting an act called the Financial Fair Play wherein if clubs spend more than they earn, with strict action against the clubs who fail to comply.