Grace period for expansion franchises?

Now that the Rockies are in the World Series, it got me wondering what is the "appropriate" amount of time an expansion franchise needs to go before making its first championship appearance?
For example, the Marlins' first title in 1997 and Arizona's World Series win in 2001 were nice for their cities, but came four and three years, respectively, after expansion. Hardly enough time for them to pay their dues, so to speak. The Carolina Panthers made it to the Super Bowl in nine years, which was borderline OK by me. I say 10 years is about right. Anything less than that, and there's just something wrong compared to what fans of franchises like the Cubs, Red Sox, White Sox, Pirates and Phillies have gone through. What does the rest of SportsJournalists.com think?

 

Don't forget, the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars BOTH made it to their conference's championship games in their second season. I believe this prompted some changes in how expansion teams would be formed later (i.e. Browns and Texans).

 

And let us not forget that the way the 1960 expansion draft was held for the Angels and Senators, prompted changes in the National League the following year so the Mess and Houston were left with the dregs of baseball.

 

10 years? I'd say five is more than plenty.

 

The Devil Rays are on the clock.

 

It's ok by me if the new Browns pay their dues and suck for a few more decades.

 

Dawgpoundiehard's heart just stopped and he doesn't know why

 

I'd say five for a playoff appearance in the NBA and NFL, where it's a little easier to make it (more teams, more parity). In baseball, a playoff appearance is something special unless you're the Yankees. In baseball, I'd say 10.
In general, I say 10 years for a championship-level appearance (World Series, Super Bowl, NBA Finals). Less than that and it seems like expansions teams have to buy titles (a la, the '97 Marlins and '01 D-backs).

 

Why should they need a "waiting period" at all? If you put together a team good enough to do it in two years, more power to you.

 

It's kind of the "new kid on the block" thing. As a fan, is it distasteful to you at all when an expansion team comes into the league and wins a title after only a couple of years?
I agree with you, spnited, that if a team can do it in two years, more power to them. My question, I guess, was how long do they need to go before most fans are OK with it.

 

New Orleans Saints: 41 seasons and waiting. Last year was the first sniff of championship and they bombed out of the NFC title game.

 

The idea of a waiting period is crap. Just because your franchise's management is dead does not mean there needs to be a period of respectful mourning.

However, a championship or multiyear playoff run right out of the box doesn't mean as much to a city or region as a title won, say, after at least 20 years in town. That's because at least one generation has grown up with the team and passed on its fandom, through thick and (mostly) thin.