Draft Process for Major Sports

A draft is a procedure used to apportion certain players to sports teams, particularly college players for involvement in professional sports (Encarta, 2009). During a draft, teams take turns in selecting from a pool of qualified players. Accordingly, when a team selects a player, the former receives exclusive rights to sign the latter to a contract. The most recognized mode of draft is the entry draft, which is utilized to allocate recently qualified players to play in a certain league. NFLThe NFL team that finished with the worst record during the preceding year is granted the first draft pick, unless the team had earlier made a trade that relinquished its right to pick first. NFL draft has seven rounds and, accordingly, every team can each have seven selections. The draft is held in April and is every NFL team’s chance to improve the roster by adding new talented players. Only upon completion of four years of play that a college player becomes eligible to join the NFL draft .In the recent decades, however, a growing number of players have preferred to enter the draft as underclassmen by going out of high school for at least three years. NBA The May NBA Draft Lottery is a yearly event that establishes the order of selection among non-playoff teams to take part in the process of obtaining rights to pick promising young local collegiate and foreign players. For teams that do not win one of the top three picks in the lottery, the order of the selection will be decided by the order of their regular season win-loss record.During the calendar year of the draft an aspirant must be no less than 18 years of age to qualify for the draft. Moreover, a draftee who completed high school basketball eligibility must be separated for no less than one year from the time of his class graduation. MLB Every year the MLB holds two drafts, which lasts up to 50 rounds; however, a much shorter draft is carried out in Rule 5 draft. The Rule 5 draft takes place every December, du ring the general managers’ annual Winter Meeting.The selection order is also based on each team’s previous regular season win-loss record, with the team with the worst record starts every round. MLB draftees are either college baseball players who have played three years and who have turned 21 years of age or high-school graduates who have opted not to go to college. However, players who have been in the organization for four years and were signed at age 18 or younger, or were signed at age 19 or older and have been in the organization for three years but are not on their major league organization's 40-man roster, are eligible for selection in the Rule 5 draft.NHL Every year, the NHL holds a seven-round off-season draft. Similar to the NBA, the NHL makes use of a lottery system to establish which team gets the top pick, beginning with the five teams with worst previous season record. However, like any other drafts, teams are allowed to trade draft picks. Any overseas p layer over 18, and any North American player age 18-20, is eligible to join the draft. Players are generally chosen from overseas clubs, the NCAA, high schools, and junior hockey teams. Cities with teams in the league take turn with the NHL draft's location.MLS MLS teams draft players at the annual MLS SuperDraft. The draft is divided into four rounds with fourteen picks each, with the worst team likewise getting the first draft pick. The selection order is decided as follows: the first six selections are given to teams that did not make it to the playoffs beginning with the team with least previous regular season points; while the other eight positions are ranked by least regular season points amongst the teams that were eliminated in the same round of the preceding playoffs.However, an expansion team is given the first draft pick in each round. In order to be eligible for the draft, aspirants must be: college players who are nominated by MLS teams and no longer have college eligib ility; invited to join in the draft year's MLS Player Combine; or generation adidas-signed players. Conclusion Every year, the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS conduct its draft. Depending on the sport, the players may come from junior teams, high school or college teams or teams in other countries.In recent years, these drafts have become spectator events, receiving the attention of millions of audiences throughout their drafting periods. Certain rules are relevant during their respective draft processes, some of which serve to make watching them a thing of some excitement and suspense. Reference Microsoft ® Encarta ® Online Encyclopedia. (2009). Draft (sports). Retrieved July 13, 2009, from http://encarta. msn. com