What are farm teams and how are they used?

Answer 1

A farm team, or feeder team, generally refers to a team or club whose role it is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players will move on to a bigger side at a certain point. This system can be implemented in many ways, both formally and informally. The term is also used as a metaphor for any organization or activity that serves as a training ground for higher-level endeavors. For instance, sometimes business schools are referred to as "farm clubs" for the world of business. In the United States and Canada, Minor League Baseball teams operate under strict franchise contracts with their major-league teams. The vast majority are privately owned, and therefore can and often do switch affiliation, but players on their rosters are completely under the control of their affiliated Major League Baseball teams. Virtually all major-league players worked their way up through the minor leagues first, with the rare exceptions usually only being Japanese baseball players. Teams are usually in smaller cities, and players are paid much less. The existence of the minor league system is partly due to major league baseball's ability to include a reserve clause in the contracts with minor league baseball players, which gives a major league team exclusive rights to a player even after the contract has expired. This is possible in baseball because of a 1922 Supreme Court decision, Federal Baseball Club v. National League, which grants baseball a special immunity from antitrust laws.