Draft (sports)

A draft is a system used by sports teams to select and allocate players to the various professional sports franchises within league organizations. The system was designed as a way to make the signing and distribution of players more equitable, so as not to favor franchises with larger financial resources. Teams are typically assigned draft positions based on the reverse order of how they finished in the previous season. The teams then make a selection from a pool of eligible players, granting them exclusive rights to negotiate a contract with that player. The most common form of draft is the entry draft, in which professional teams select players from high school, college, amateur, or foreign teams. Each of the four major North American sports (football, baseball, basketball, and hockey) has some form of entry draft, with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) assigning top picks via a lottery system to discourage intentional losing to gain a higher selection.

Background

Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, organized sports were played at the amateur level with players joining teams and leagues as they pleased, mainly as a hobby or a way to get exercise. In the 1860s, amateur baseball teams began recruiting and paying the best players to play for them. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first all-professional baseball team in the United States, offering players between $600 and $2,000 for their services. Within the next decade, the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, also called the National League (NL), was formed with the sole purpose of being a for-profit business venture. At first, players were free to sign with any team they wished and could suddenly leave one team for another if they were offered a higher salary. In 1879, the league instituted the reserve clause, which bound a player to a team he signed with unless he was traded or released.

By the 1880s, other professional leagues had formed as rivals to the NL. In addition, a number of independent minor league teams had also been established across the United States. Beginning in 1892, professional leagues took part in a process called the “selection of players” in which teams were allowed to choose players from a minor league roster for a fee—typically $500 to $1,000 based on the quality of the minor league. The system was later adopted when the American League (AL) joined with the rival National League in 1903 to form Major League Baseball (MLB). A version of this system—now called the Rule 5 Draft—is still used by MLB teams in the twenty-first century. In the adapted system, teams can choose a player from another team’s minor league system if that player has not been added to the MLB team’s forty-man roster over a certain period of time.

Overview

For the first two decades of the twentieth century, MLB remained the most successful professional sports league in North America, although attempts had been made to organize other professional leagues in football, basketball, and hockey. The predecessor of the modern National Hockey League (NHL) was formed in 1917, and the National Football League (NFL) was formed in 1920. These leagues roughly modeled their business operations on that of MLB and allowed new players to freely sign with any team. However, this meant that players were gravitating toward deep-pocketed franchises or teams in larger cities, leading to a competitive imbalance that strengthened the best teams at the expense of others.

National Football League (NFL)

To correct this competitive imbalance, Philadelphia Eagles owner Bert Bell proposed the earliest version of the sports entry draft in 1935. Bell’s idea laid out the template for modern drafts, with the selection order determined by the inverse order of how teams finished in the previous season. For example, the team with the worst record had the first pick in the draft, the second worst record picked second, and so on. NFL teams were also allowed to trade draft picks to other teams, either for current players or additional draft picks. The idea was unanimously approved by the other owners and implemented for the first time in 1936. However, choosing a player only gave the team the right to negotiate with that player; it did not guarantee that the player would sign with the team. The first-ever NFL Draft pick—running back Jay Berwanger—was selected by the Chicago Bears, but refused to sign with the team and never played in the NFL.

The first NFL Draft consisted of nine rounds. This was later increased to ten, eventually to twenty, and then to thirty in 1950. Since 1960, the number of rounds has been steadily declining, with teams selecting players in seven rounds since 1994. From 1947 to 1958, the NFL instituted a “bonus pick” in which one team was randomly selected to receive the first overall pick. The next year, that team was eliminated from the process and the next bonus pick was chosen from the remaining teams.

In the modern NFL Draft, players are chosen almost exclusively from college football teams, although non-college players are eligible if they have been out of high school at least three years. The draft order is still determined by the inverse order from the previous season’s standings, with playoff teams slotted according to how far they advance in the postseason. Barring any draft-pick trades, this means that the team with the worst record selects first, and the Super Bowl champion chooses thirty-second. Until the early 1980s, the NFL Draft often received little public attention, but that changed when the cable network ESPN began televising the proceedings. Today, the NFL Draft is one of the most popular sporting events on television. In April 2024, an average of 12.1 million people watched the three days of coverage. In contrast, the 2024 NBA playoffs—which took place at roughly the same time—averaged 4.53 million viewers.

National Basketball Association (NBA)

The precursor of the National Basketball Association (NBA) was formed in 1947 and became the modern NBA in 1949 when it merged with another professional league. The league instituted a draft process similar to the NFL’s—with the worst teams choosing at the top of the draft—but also added a geographical component. To attract local fans, teams could forfeit their first-round pick to choose a player from their geographical region. This selection was made prior to the draft, and the player was not included in the player pool. The practice allowed some teams to stock up on local talent and also led to disputes over territorial rights. The idea was discontinued after 1965 when the NBA used a coin flip between the two worst teams in each conference to decide the top overall pick.

At first, the NBA Draft went on until teams stopped making selections, but it was shortened to ten rounds in 1974 and eventually to two rounds in 1989. In the early 1980s, teams near the bottom of the standings were accused of intentionally losing games as the season wound down to improve their chances of getting a top draft pick. To remedy this situation, the NBA implemented the draft lottery in 1985. Under the original system, the names of non-playoff teams were placed in a drum, and the draft order was selected by random drawing. The draft lottery has been adjusted several times over the years to give the worst teams a statistically better chance at the top three draft spots. After the top three teams have been determined by lottery, the rest of the order falls in line according to record. The team names are no longer selected by hand but through a random drawing of specially marked ping pong balls. As of 2025, players eligible for the draft must be at least nineteen years old and one year removed from high school.

Major League Baseball (MLB)

For decades, MLB teams that could afford quality scouting departments were able to scour the country for talent and offer the best players the largest contracts. From 1947 to 1964, MLB attempted to level out the economic playing field by requiring teams that signed players to expensive contracts to keep those players on their roster for at least two seasons. The league did away with this “bonus rule” in 1965 when it implemented an amateur player draft. Similar to the NFL, teams with the worst records selected players at the top of the draft. Where the draft differed was that MLB allowed players to be selected from either high school or college, and teams were not allowed to trade draft picks.

At first, MLB held three drafts a year for players who graduated in June or January or played amateur baseball. However, since 1986, MLB has held one draft each June. The draft has been limited to forty rounds since 2012, but teams can accumulate compensatory picks sandwiched between rounds. Teams are awarded these sections if they lose a prominent player through free agency or are among the lowest-revenue teams in baseball.

National Hockey League (NHL)

Prior to 1963, NHL teams were able to sponsor junior teams in Canada and use players on those teams as a source of talent. The league began an entry draft for unsponsored players that season and by 1969 had fully eliminated the sponsorship system. The NHL Draft is similar to other sports drafts except that eligible amateur players must be older than eighteen and can come from colleges, amateur teams, or European hockey leagues.

In 1995, the NHL followed the NBA’s lead and implemented a draft lottery system. This system also uses a drawing of marked ping pong balls that give the worst teams a statistically better shot at the top draft spot. After the top overall pick is chosen, additional drawings are held to determine the second and third overall picks. The remaining picks then follow in inverse order of last season’s record.

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