An American sport question

[Lissa]

Here's something I've always wanted to know. In football we have transfer fees - Player 1 plays for Team A but Team B want him. Team B pays a vast sum of money to Team A for Player 1 and the deal is done. But they don't do that in America do they? Do players only move when their contracts are up or if Teams X and Y swap players? Or is there a transfer fee system in operation that we never hear about?

[Rob McCow]

Is that specifically for American Football or for Soccer?

Not that any of that would help me answer the question. But you don't hear them going on about grubby things like 'Transfer deadlines' in the US.

[Captain Tancredi]

I know that players in the NFL get traded, but there's also a salary cap which means that the best players are tied in to long-term contracts which ensure their financial security. Also the NFL season is much shorter (September to January) so the franchises spend two thirds of the year building their team for the three or four months when they're actually playing.

There's also the issue of the size of the country- an English footballer can transfer between northern teams or from a northern club to a midlands one without having to move home. It's more of an undertaking to move from, say, Miami to Seattle.