Pacific Pro Football Developmental League

[JaxRed]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2017/01/11/pacific-pro-football-league-developmental-college-ed-mccaffrey/96416744/

This is a very interesting concept. To take kids who don't want to go to college and instead pay them $50K a year to play football while waiting for the NFL. There are some big names behind it, and the have central ownership instead of team ownership (which is critical).

The two items which are only slightly addressed are

1) A TV contract. They have to have some media outfit pay them $20 million or so a year
2) Liability insurance. That killed some leagues from starting.

THere are enough streaming sites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook that I think they can find a $20 Mill broadcaster

[bucksfan2]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2017/01/11/pacific-pro-football-league-developmental-college-ed-mccaffrey/96416744/

This is a very interesting concept. To take kids who don't want to go to college and instead pay them $50K a year to play football while waiting for the NFL. There are some big names behind it, and the have central ownership instead of team ownership (which is critical).

The two items which are only slightly addressed are

1) A TV contract. They have to have some media outfit pay them $20 million or so a year
2) Liability insurance. That killed some leagues from starting.

THere are enough streaming sites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook that I think they can find a $20 Mill broadcaster

I think this is going to be an utter failure.

First look at the $50K, while it may seem like a nice chunk of change for a HS kid, it isn't all that much, especially when you factor in taxes. California levies up to 8% on that $50K in state taxes, let alone federal tax up to 25%. Add in 2.9% + 6.2% for medicare and social security and you are seeing around 30%+ of your income going to taxes. That leaves out living expenses as well as food expenses (which I don't know if they are going to fully cover.

Secondly I don't think they will be able to attract the level of coaching that the NCAA does. They won't be able to pay a coaching staff what big time college football does, let alone the group of five. You may have some good, but washed out coaches taking jobs, but you aren't getting the caliber of coaching that the NCAA provides.

Where is the market? How are they going to get the games to the consumer? When are the games going to happen? If they go with a Sat game it will be buried against college football, a higher quality of football. If they go Friday, I think the Pacific time zone will eliminate most of the east coast from watching their games.

Exposure, I don't think they will come anywhere close to the exposure that college provides.

I also think the level of play will become rather incestuous, with only four teams playing against each other every 4th game. It would be similar to the AFC North only playing against AFC North opponents.

I think this could be a route for junior college players, and probably a good gig for them. I think that big time college football is much more worthwhile, and actually better compensated than this league.

[Boston Red]

Plus, if you end up not being as good as you'd hoped, at least with college football you can walk away with a degree.

[Redsfaithful]

The Arena league seems to have teams shut down every year, and it's entertaining with very, very good athletes (really.)

That's an established league with great talent and I doubt their ESPN deal is $20 million.

I'm feeling in the other direction kind of. Less football.

Move the NFL to a 12 game schedule. Same calendar length of season. Bigger rosters (maybe 65+10 practice) so players can be developed by teams.

I'm tired of weekly games being a matchup of who is injured less, and even more tired of playoff games being the same. I used to think moving to an 18 game season would be awesome, but now I know better.

[Chip R]

I think this is going to be an utter failure.

First look at the $50K, while it may seem like a nice chunk of change for a HS kid, it isn't all that much, especially when you factor in taxes. California levies up to 8% on that $50K in state taxes, let alone federal tax up to 25%. Add in 2.9% + 6.2% for medicare and social security and you are seeing around 30%+ of your income going to taxes. That leaves out living expenses as well as food expenses (which I don't know if they are going to fully cover.

Secondly I don't think they will be able to attract the level of coaching that the NCAA does. They won't be able to pay a coaching staff what big time college football does, let alone the group of five. You may have some good, but washed out coaches taking jobs, but you aren't getting the caliber of coaching that the NCAA provides.

Where is the market? How are they going to get the games to the consumer? When are the games going to happen? If they go with a Sat game it will be buried against college football, a higher quality of football. If they go Friday, I think the Pacific time zone will eliminate most of the east coast from watching their games.

Exposure, I don't think they will come anywhere close to the exposure that college provides.

I also think the level of play will become rather incestuous, with only four teams playing against each other every 4th game. It would be similar to the AFC North only playing against AFC North opponents.

I think this could be a route for junior college players, and probably a good gig for them. I think that big time college football is much more worthwhile, and actually better compensated than this league.

A lot of good points here. I made some similar points yesterday but must have forgot to post.

$50K is the average so you know a lot of those kids are going to be paid less than that. No, it doesn't seem like a lot of money but minor league baseball players get paid a lot less for more work. But, you're right that staying in college would be more beneficial to them financially even if they aren't getting paid.

It looks like they are going to play in the summer which is smart. As far as the time difference goes, they can always schedule the games for 4-5 p.m. local time. I wouldn't worry too much about getting their games out there for people to see. They could always stream them online. Maybe Netflix pays a bunch of money to have them stream games.

I think they will have a problem with player safety. Say what you will about the NFL's and NCAA's handling of that, they do have excellent medical staffs working on them. Who is this league going to have, Dr. Nick Riviera?

I think they could be a success if they got a star like Tebow or Manziel who has a great freshman season and then decides that they would rather play for pay for a couple of years. Otherwise, you're going to have a bunch of ham-n-eggers playing against each other and it will be like the XFL. This is going to be a league for the 18 year old kid who doesn't have the grades for college and doesn't even want to go to JC. Or for the 19-20 year old kid who either flunked out or got kicked off his college team. I don't know if they could attract the 4th string RB at LSU for something like this. That kid may think that riding the bench in Baton Rouge is better than playing before 200 people in Northside in the summer for peanuts. Maybe they get guys who were cut from NFL teams and are looking for a second/third chance.

[bucksfan2]

A lot of good points here. I made some similar points yesterday but must have forgot to post.

$50K is the average so you know a lot of those kids are going to be paid less than that. No, it doesn't seem like a lot of money but minor league baseball players get paid a lot less for more work. But, you're right that staying in college would be more beneficial to them financially even if they aren't getting paid.

It looks like they are going to play in the summer which is smart. As far as the time difference goes, they can always schedule the games for 4-5 p.m. local time. I wouldn't worry too much about getting their games out there for people to see. They could always stream them online. Maybe Netflix pays a bunch of money to have them stream games.

I think they will have a problem with player safety. Say what you will about the NFL's and NCAA's handling of that, they do have excellent medical staffs working on them. Who is this league going to have, Dr. Nick Riviera?

I think they could be a success if they got a star like Tebow or Manziel who has a great freshman season and then decides that they would rather play for pay for a couple of years. Otherwise, you're going to have a bunch of ham-n-eggers playing against each other and it will be like the XFL. This is going to be a league for the 18 year old kid who doesn't have the grades for college and doesn't even want to go to JC. Or for the 19-20 year old kid who either flunked out or got kicked off his college team. I don't know if they could attract the 4th string RB at LSU for something like this. That kid may think that riding the bench in Baton Rouge is better than playing before 200 people in Northside in the summer for peanuts. Maybe they get guys who were cut from NFL teams and are looking for a second/third chance.

I get the idea behind this, not every kid is cut out for college, and the system in place requires that. There are kids who are good enough to play football at the collegiate level, but not cut out to be students. Now one could argue what kind of future they have in the NFL, but if you can play, there will be a place for you.

I remember watching Last Chance U, and how many of those players just weren't cut out for academics, how hard the school had to try to get kids Junior College eligible. So if you take out the guys who found themselves behind a stud at a major university, there are kids who can't get D1 eligible, but want to play football. Look at a kid like John Franklin (I believe the QB) who transferred from FSU and eventually took a scholarship from Auburn. Would he have been better served going to JC or to this pro league? Now the RB definitely would have benefited from playing in the pro league, because on the show he looked like a talented player who just wasn't cut out for the academic part of college football.

This league would be best served to wrap up right around the time the college football season starts. But then again, if you are playing in the league, and have pro prospects, you would like your seasons to over lap. Your body can't take playing 8 games in a "pro" league then playing a potentially 16 game NFL season.

One way this "could" work is to get some help from the NFL. Lets say the NFL decides they want to expand roster sizes, and add an additional 5 practice squad members who play in this league. They would help foot the bill, get their additional practice squad players, and there would be a commitment of 160 additional players, making the league able to expand. Now the level of play from those practice squad players is going to be better, but these are the fringe of the fringe NFL players, not stars.

[Sea Ray]

NFL Europe was a much better concept and it failed. This concept would be charity for a small group of players who fit this profile. There's not much in it for anyone else. The owners won't make much money; nor will the network(s) who sign up to broadcast it. I don't see who it'll benefit other than a few kids who aren't smart enough to pass enough basket weaving classes to stay eligible for 2.5 yrs

[Slyder]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2017/01/11/pacific-pro-football-league-developmental-college-ed-mccaffrey/96416744/

This is a very interesting concept. To take kids who don't want to go to college and instead pay them $50K a year to play football while waiting for the NFL. There are some big names behind it, and the have central ownership instead of team ownership (which is critical).

The two items which are only slightly addressed are

1) A TV contract. They have to have some media outfit pay them $20 million or so a year
2) Liability insurance. That killed some leagues from starting.

THere are enough streaming sites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook that I think they can find a $20 Mill broadcaster

This is where I think the XFL swung and missed horribly. There is a niche for something of a farm league but you have to work with the NFL. I think Vince did everything he could Ric Flair eye gouge the NFL in the development and why it didn't last. They at least had some sort of TV deal for their league.

[Assembly Hall]

I think it is a novel idea and I understand the theory behind it. But there is just too much "stuff" on these days.

[Revering4Blue]

This is where I think the XFL swung and missed horribly. There is a niche for something of a farm league but you have to work with the NFL. I think Vince did everything he could Ric Flair eye gouge the NFL in the development and why it didn't last. They at least had some sort of TV deal for their league.

With all due respect to WWE fans out there, McMahon and company committed a grievous error by marketing the league in precisely the same fashion as the WWE, rather than focusing on the fact that it was affordable (relatively speaking) off-season football in major markets with differing rules. Most just wanted football without the ties to WWE accentuated -- for example, Jesse Ventura stunk it up as an "announcer", and the ads for the league were straight out of the WWE playbook.

[Chip R]

With all due respect to WWE fans out there, McMahon and company committed a grievous error by marketing the league in precisely the same fashion as the WWE, rather than focusing on the fact that it was affordable (relatively speaking) off-season football in major markets with differing rules. Most just wanted football without the ties to WWE accentuated -- for example, Jesse Ventura stunk it up as an "announcer", and the ads for the league were straight out of the WWE playbook.

That's a fairly accurate summary of the XFL's failings. I think a large part of it was the lack of talent. I'm not saying the average fan could be a GM but they know talent when they see it and the XFL didn't have it. I will say they were innovative in a few ways with cameras in the locker rooms before the games and cameras on wires above the field.

This new league may survive if they don't try to get too big for their britches. Play in the summer and start small with players who are either ineligible or out of the NFL. Realize that it's a minor league and don't expand too soon. Minor leagues work in other sports so why not football? There's probably no reason they can't play in the early fall but then they are competing against high school football if they play on Fridays.

[JaxRed]

BTW, this is only for HS grads, the NFL is working on a "league" for guys who were draft eligible in the last 2 years but are not on a roster.

[bucksfan2]

That's a fairly accurate summary of the XFL's failings. I think a large part of it was the lack of talent. I'm not saying the average fan could be a GM but they know talent when they see it and the XFL didn't have it. I will say they were innovative in a few ways with cameras in the locker rooms before the games and cameras on wires above the field.

This new league may survive if they don't try to get too big for their britches. Play in the summer and start small with players who are either ineligible or out of the NFL. Realize that it's a minor league and don't expand too soon. Minor leagues work in other sports so why not football? There's probably no reason they can't play in the early fall but then they are competing against high school football if they play on Fridays.

There are very few successful minor leagues that succeed without the backing from the major leagues.

[Sea Ray]

BTW, this is only for HS grads, the NFL is working on a "league" for guys who were draft eligible in the last 2 years but are not on a roster.

I hadn't heard that the NFL was working on another league. Interesting