Two Tier League?
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People would watch their teams on tv nonstop. More people would probably go to that than baseball games. You wouldnt be paying em shit. You dont think Bengal fans would tune in to get a peak at McCarron? I think its an untapped resource they should definitely explore. There wont be any more concussion lawsuits. You wouldnt want to get a peak at Shaw, Crowell, West? Perhaps Manziel towards the end of the season? It would speed up development.
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People would watch their teams on tv nonstop. More people would probably go to that than baseball games. You wouldnt be paying em shit. You dont think Bengal fans would tune in to get a peak at McCarron? I think its an untapped resource they should definitely explore. There wont be any more concussion lawsuits. You wouldnt want to get a peak at Shaw, Crowell, West? Perhaps Manziel towards the end of the season? It would speed up development.
XxDaBuckeyexX said:
People would watch their teams on tv nonstop. More people would probably go to that than baseball games. You wouldnt be paying em shit. You dont think Bengal fans would tune in to get a peak at McCarron? I think its an untapped resource they should definitely explore. There wont be any more concussion lawsuits.
So they're going to create a new league as well as pay them less and not get anymore concussion lawsuits?
It sounds ideal in theory but life is far from ideal.
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Considering scientist are still learning about the long term effects of concussions, I highly doubt the average NFL prospect can truly know the risk. The NFL however has a better idea and I just can't see them opening up another, more volatile avenue to a potentially existential threat to the league in general. They haven't instituted all of these new safety penalties and procedures over the past couple for PR's sake.
Granted it's merely my personal opinion.
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As for the 2 tier league I think it might spread the talent a little too thin across all of the teams. Also, how pissed are Arian Foster and Andre Johnson gonna be now that they're in the lower tier league?
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One of the things I love about american sports is the parity - how a team can go from worst to first every year. If you have relegated teams, you'd end up with EITHER:
1) houston's replacement in the top tier gets the top pick; OR
2) the bottom team in the bottom tier gets the top pick.
in the first scenario, you are ensuring that all the top talent stays in the top division, making it impossible for the teams in the bottom tier to do anything more than come up and then go down again, unless they strike it Andrew Lucky on an absolutely elite, can't miss QB when they come up.
In the second scenario, you are essentially ensuring that the top tier of rookies don't get to play in the top tier of the sport for the first few years (since their team is so crappy they'll never get promoted).
I like the idea of each team, or each division at least, having a developmental team. Perhaps there could be an AFC north division team, with a GM separate to the four teams, that just tries to play 'AFC north style' football. The idea of seeing a league where we get to check up on Shaw, Crowell, Slaughter, Faulk, and scout their pro-development? I love that. But relegation and promotion are terrible things to inflict on the NFL.
The BIG difference between american sports and soccer (rugby, cricket and who knows what other sports), is the draft. In soccer, young players, as mentioned above, are signed to a team anywhere from about 8 years old and upwards. They might move around once or twice before making it to a team where they can play in the first team, or they may never make it. Then, players rights are bought and sold - it's quite possible for a player to change club every year or two. most importantly, the highest bidder (usually) wins. So if you have more money, you can buy more, better players. And then the teams that do the best get more prize money and merchandising. On top of that, you have other countries' leagues, so a player is perfectly free to move from England to France or Spain (or China, Peru, Azerbaijan or Timbuktu). It's a flawed system that's a bit out of date, but it's one we're stuck with.
The one thing I would be interested to see is 'loan' deals. In soccer, bigger clubs (usually) loan their younger, developmental guys to smaller teams for a year, to help their development. Think about a team now that is stacked at WR, we take a guy for a season, probably a younger guy that they like but don't want to trade, pay his wages for a year, play him while Gordon's suspended, and then send him back. We get a player filling in for a year, they get a player with a year's development. Someone mentioned Green Bay having a lot of receivers? Or, we have a bunch of OLs like Faulk, Gilkey, Fragel etc that could use time somewhere else. A team's starter goes down for a month, they take our guy for a month to cover the hole, our guy gets development time.
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Well, right now what do we have here in the US in terms of a "developmental league"? Yes, there is college ball....but I am thinking in terms of post college development. Look at all the players that don't make a roster that still could have talent that could be developed.
There is the Arena League, and Canada I guess.
The UFL went belly up in 2012.
But there is supposed to be in the works a "New USFL", which IS supposed to try to be a "developmental league"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_United_States_Football_League
I note that Akron could actually become one of the USFL cities:
By May 10, 2012, the Cuadra-led league was trumpeting Portland (OR), Salt Lake City (UT), San Antonio (TX) or Austin (TX), Columbus (OH) or Akron (OH), Oklahoma City (OK), Omaha (NE), Raleigh/Durham (NC), Birmingham (AL) and Memphis (TN) as team sites.[10]
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A developmental league I'd be all in favour of, for sure. Whether it'd be one development team per NFL team, or perhaps separate teams whose players are all automatically entered in to the supplemental draft?
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A developmental league I'd be all in favour of, for sure. Whether it'd be one development team per NFL team, or perhaps separate teams whose players are all automatically entered in to the supplemental draft?
A developmental league I'd be all in favour of, for sure. Whether it'd be one development team per NFL team, or perhaps separate teams whose players are all automatically entered in to the supplemental draft?
Per the article, the New USFL would be more or less a spring league again, and that its players would be free to sign and play for any NFL team in the fall, so there apparently would not be any direct affiliation with any specific NFL team and USFL team.
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A developmental league I'd be all in favour of, for sure. Whether it'd be one development team per NFL team, or perhaps separate teams whose players are all automatically entered in to the supplemental draft?
Per the article, the New USFL would be more or less a spring league again, and that its players would be free to sign and play for any NFL team in the fall, so there apparently would not be any direct affiliation with any specific NFL team and USFL team.
Per the article, the New USFL would be more or less a spring league again, and that its players would be free to sign and play for any NFL team in the fall, so there apparently would not be any direct affiliation with any specific NFL team and USFL team.
I think having a direct link from minor league teams to NFL teams would be exciting. My idea is as follows.
You have 1 NFL-D team per division. Put each team into a city that makes geological sense for each division, but also has enough population to be successful as a minor league team. (For the AFC North I would suggest Columbus). You start playing football at the begining of March, and you play a 6 game season. Top 4 teams go to playoffs. Hold the D-League Championship the day before round 1 of the draft.
Now this is equally important. You create and UDFA signing period. The day right after the draft is over, each division holds their own NFL-D Draft Where each team picks based off of their finishing within the division the year before. You do lets say 4 rounds. The day after the NFL-D Draft UDFA signing period opens up to fill the rest of the teams rosters. At any point after the NFL-D league draft, teams can sign players for their minor league club based on waiver wire order.
After this you go through the whole NFL season. Once the season is over, teams can only move up to, lets say 70 players. This will allow the D-League to fill it's own rosters with lower level players that need more time developing, where as it might be hard to fill the minor league rosters if teams were allowed to hold onto 90 players during the offseason.
Minor league clubs could either be owned by a person seperate from all 4 owners of the teams in the division, would all 4 owners could own the team together as equal share holders. The latter might be more preferable since it would allow their people to fill the team with people the want (GM, Scouts, Coaches, Ect.)
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Why would the minor league play their games between the end of the NFL season and the draft? Wouldn't it need to wait until after the draft so they could fill their rosters?
This would also require all of the North teams to be domed stadiums pretty much.
Plus, there are other sports going on then (college bball mainly). I would think it would be more of a spring/summer thing (though it might be hot as hell).
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Why would the minor league play their games between the end of the NFL season and the draft? Wouldn't it need to wait until after the draft so they could fill their rosters?
This would also require all of the North teams to be domed stadiums pretty much.
Plus, there are other sports going on then (college bball mainly). I would think it would be more of a spring/summer thing (though it might be hot as hell).
Why would the minor league play their games between the end of the NFL season and the draft? Wouldn't it need to wait until after the draft so they could fill their rosters?
This would also require all of the North teams to be domed stadiums pretty much.
Plus, there are other sports going on then (college bball mainly). I would think it would be more of a spring/summer thing (though it might be hot as hell).
Teams wouldn't want a minor league season happening when they are doing offseason workout. Fact is, clubs are still going to want to take their shots on UDFA and 1-2 year players and get them onto the team to learn plays and get time in with their coaches. Having a minor league team using players that could be on their rosters during this important time would hinder them not help them. Every year several UDFA make NFL rosters and stick with teams. Teams are not going to want to see that current crop of players go through a minor league system before they can sign them.
By playing the season in March and April, the rosters could be filled with those that didn't stick with teams during the previous year and by creating a rule where teams couldn't sugn up to 90 players until after the draft, would allow the minor league rosters to fill up with players that didn't end the season on a team or get signed to teams once FA opened.
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Why would the minor league play their games between the end of the NFL season and the draft? Wouldn't it need to wait until after the draft so they could fill their rosters?
This would also require all of the North teams to be domed stadiums pretty much.
Plus, there are other sports going on then (college bball mainly). I would think it would be more of a spring/summer thing (though it might be hot as hell).
Teams wouldn't want a minor league season happening when they are doing offseason workout. Fact is, clubs are still going to want to take their shots on UDFA and 1-2 year players and get them onto the team to learn plays and get time in with their coaches. Having a minor league team using players that could be on their rosters during this important time would hinder them not help them. Every year several UDFA make NFL rosters and stick with teams. Teams are not going to want to see that current crop of players go through a minor league system before they can sign them.
By playing the season in March and April, the rosters could be filled with those that didn't stick with teams during the previous year and by creating a rule where teams couldn't sugn up to 90 players until after the draft, would allow the minor league rosters to fill up with players that didn't end the season on a team or get signed to teams once FA opened.
Teams wouldn't want a minor league season happening when they are doing offseason workout. Fact is, clubs are still going to want to take their shots on UDFA and 1-2 year players and get them onto the team to learn plays and get time in with their coaches. Having a minor league team using players that could be on their rosters during this important time would hinder them not help them. Every year several UDFA make NFL rosters and stick with teams. Teams are not going to want to see that current crop of players go through a minor league system before they can sign them.
By playing the season in March and April, the rosters could be filled with those that didn't stick with teams during the previous year and by creating a rule where teams couldn't sugn up to 90 players until after the draft, would allow the minor league rosters to fill up with players that didn't end the season on a team or get signed to teams once FA opened.
Perhaps it could be played after roster cuts have been announced that make up the squad? And, with an age limit of, say, 25.
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Teams wouldn't want a minor league season happening when they are doing offseason workout. Fact is, clubs are still going to want to take their shots on UDFA and 1-2 year players and get them onto the team to learn plays and get time in with their coaches. Having a minor league team using players that could be on their rosters during this important time would hinder them not help them. Every year several UDFA make NFL rosters and stick with teams. Teams are not going to want to see that current crop of players go through a minor league system before they can sign them.
By playing the season in March and April, the rosters could be filled with those that didn't stick with teams during the previous year and by creating a rule where teams couldn't sugn up to 90 players until after the draft, would allow the minor league rosters to fill up with players that didn't end the season on a team or get signed to teams once FA opened.
Perhaps it could be played after roster cuts have been announced that make up the squad? And, with an age limit of, say, 25.
Perhaps it could be played after roster cuts have been announced that make up the squad? And, with an age limit of, say, 25.
The problem with that is that roster cuts don't take place till preseason. By the time NFL-D rosters are set and those teams have had their own offseason, we would be into the regular season for the NFL.
While that could work well for develope mental purposes, the major issues is games having to be played during the actual football season which would likely hurt revenue making ability for minor league teams. Having the season during late winter early Spring would give the NFL something they want and that's a nearly never ending exposure of their brand.
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Actually, I personally would rather see a developmental/minor league team play in the fall...when the "parent clubs" are playing. Just like baseball. That way players that were cut by the NFL teams out of training camp could latch on to a D League team.....and if necessary be "called up" to play during the season.
This concept could allow for the elimination of the "practice/taxi squad". Someone gets hurt....you pluck a replacement from the D league....a guy that is in the middle of playing a season....that you know is in shape.
Or, maybe with this concept you could have a single team affiliated with several parent clubs. With a dozen D League teams each one could have say 3 parent clubs where maybe 10-12 of the players on the D-Legue roster "belong" to one of the parent clubs. I however would not want them to be in the same division.
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Actually, I personally would rather see a developmental/minor league team play in the fall...when the "parent clubs" are playing. Just like baseball. That way players that were cut by the NFL teams out of training camp could latch on to a D League team.....and if necessary be "called up" to play during the season.
This concept could allow for the elimination of the "practice/taxi squad". Someone gets hurt....you pluck a replacement from the D league....a guy that is in the middle of playing a season....that you know is in shape.
Or, maybe with this concept you could have a single team affiliated with several parent clubs. With a dozen D League teams each one could have say 3 parent clubs where maybe 10-12 of the players on the D-Legue roster "belong" to one of the parent clubs. I however would not want them to be in the same division.
Actually, I personally would rather see a developmental/minor league team play in the fall...when the "parent clubs" are playing. Just like baseball.
Possibly... but when do you play that you are not stepping on either an NFL or college broadcast? Either of which the league is loathe to do...
In any case it is just hard to see the economic viability of any plan. Even the NFL Europe league finally succumbed despite the dual potential payoff of player development plus spreading the gospel of the NFL.
The other leagues that have successful, minor-league farm systems, e.g., baseball and hockey, have the advantages of both fewer players and more games (many more games) to help make them viable.
"When you have a shared vision it is a lot easier to make unpopular decisions." - Paul DePodesta "When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less." - Paul Brown Complete 2017 Browns Board Mock: http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46196 -
Actually, I personally would rather see a developmental/minor league team play in the fall...when the "parent clubs" are playing. Just like baseball.
Possibly... but when do you play that you are not stepping on either an NFL or college broadcast? Either of which the league is loathe to do...
In any case it is just hard to see the economic viability of any plan. Even the NFL Europe league finally succumbed despite the dual potential payoff of player development plus spreading the gospel of the NFL.
The other leagues that have successful, minor-league farm systems, e.g., baseball and hockey, have the advantages of both fewer players and more games (many more games) to help make them viable.
Possibly... but when do you play that you are not stepping on either an NFL or college broadcast? Either of which the league is loathe to do...
In any case it is just hard to see the economic viability of any plan. Even the NFL Europe league finally succumbed despite the dual potential payoff of player development plus spreading the gospel of the NFL.
The other leagues that have successful, minor-league farm systems, e.g., baseball and hockey, have the advantages of both fewer players and more games (many more games) to help make them viable.
The reason NFL Europe didn't work was because it was in Europe. The reason the UFL and USFL didn't work is because they tried to directly compete with the NFL. And NFL funded developmental league in the US would likely be successful as long as season were played outside the NFL season or at least corilated in a way with the NFL during the season to make it relevant and interesting for people to watch.
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Possibly... but when do you play that you are not stepping on either an NFL or college broadcast? Either of which the league is loathe to do...
In any case it is just hard to see the economic viability of any plan. Even the NFL Europe league finally succumbed despite the dual potential payoff of player development plus spreading the gospel of the NFL.
The other leagues that have successful, minor-league farm systems, e.g., baseball and hockey, have the advantages of both fewer players and more games (many more games) to help make them viable.
The reason NFL Europe didn't work was because it was in Europe. The reason the UFL and USFL didn't work is because they tried to directly compete with the NFL. And NFL funded developmental league in the US would likely be successful as long as season were played outside the NFL season or at least corilated in a way with the NFL during the season to make it relevant and interesting for people to watch.
The reason NFL Europe didn't work was because it was in Europe. The reason the UFL and USFL didn't work is because they tried to directly compete with the NFL. And NFL funded developmental league in the US would likely be successful as long as season were played outside the NFL season or at least corilated in a way with the NFL during the season to make it relevant and interesting for people to watch.
Something slightly less serious, but still with a vested interest for each team, would definitely be a good thing. Play it over the summer, somehow, and it's all good.
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Actually, I personally would rather see a developmental/minor league team play in the fall...when the "parent clubs" are playing. Just like baseball.
Possibly... but when do you play that you are not stepping on either an NFL or college broadcast? Either of which the league is loathe to do...
In any case it is just hard to see the economic viability of any plan. Even the NFL Europe league finally succumbed despite the dual potential payoff of player development plus spreading the gospel of the NFL.
The other leagues that have successful, minor-league farm systems, e.g., baseball and hockey, have the advantages of both fewer players and more games (many more games) to help make them viable.
Possibly... but when do you play that you are not stepping on either an NFL or college broadcast? Either of which the league is loathe to do...
Wednsday....and since it is a minor league, it doesn't have to have a huge presence on national TV, does it?
In any case it is just hard to see the economic viability of any plan. Even the NFL Europe league finally succumbed despite the dual potential payoff of player development plus spreading the gospel of the NFL.
Well, gee, maybe these minor league ball players would only get paid like the top 1%, instead of like the top 0.1%. A max of a couple of hundred K....and not millions. (and remember, under certain versions of the plan as discussed there would be affilation with the "Major League" Club...which would provide financial support)
The other leagues that have successful, minor-league farm systems, e.g., baseball and hockey, have the advantages of both fewer players and more games (many more games) to help make them viable.
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The reason NFL Europe didn't work was because it was in Europe. The reason the UFL and USFL didn't work is because they tried to directly compete with the NFL. And NFL funded developmental league in the US would likely be successful as long as season were played outside the NFL season or at least corilated in a way with the NFL during the season to make it relevant and interesting for people to watch.
Something slightly less serious, but still with a vested interest for each team, would definitely be a good thing. Play it over the summer, somehow, and it's all good.
Something slightly less serious, but still with a vested interest for each team, would definitely be a good thing. Play it over the summer, somehow, and it's all good.
But NFL owners are not going to want a developmental league that plays it's season during the summer, because they are going to want the players in that leage on their own teams rosters during the time learning systems and plays and getting coaching time from NFL level coaches. Plus that is the one time of the year where rosters are at a full 90 people per team, so anything you can put onto the field in the NFL D league during that time wouldn't look very good. The whole point, at least as the NFL and NCAA cureently stands, is to create a developmental teams where the bottom quarter or so of every NFL roster, and then for the best that are left unsigned, to get more exposer to coaching and more playing time.
Because of that you would need to have the season during a time of the year where teams have not filled their rosters yet, or at least have it during a time where you can have teams set their rosters below 90 in order to fill the D-League.
Now you could have a developmental league that is actually there during the NFL season, but it comes down to when would those teams play their games during the week. Monday, Thursday, and Sunday are obviously out because the NFL isn't going to want them playing on days where they normall have another game scheduled. They won't do Saturday because they won't want to mess with the NCAA. So that leave Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Friday might be the best bet, but at the same time that interfiers with High School, but you would likely still see better attendense and viewership during Friday Night games thatn Tuesday or Thursday night games.
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