Baseball blew an opportunity when leagues were first starting out right after the WBTS to establish such a system (imagine the Bronx Bombers in a top flight or relegation-avoidance duel with Billings, MT).
What is the WBTS in baseball?
College football is about TV ratings. That’s where much of the revenue comes from. In a free market, the consumer rewards a good product. The SEC’s TV contract and ratings proves they’re doing something right. The market has spoken.
Couch potatoes who have never paid for a game ticket expect a Top 10 match up every week. Similar bitching comes from the idiots in the sports media. These two groups can safely be ignored.
Well, as has been pointed out repeatedly on FR, the War Between the States wasn't a civil war in the strict sense (except maybe in Lincoln's mind at Gettysburg). I thought maybe you knew what the abbreviation was.
Closer to the topic, I give you (per the origins of professional baseball)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Red_Stockings
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Professional_Base_Ball_Players
ff