Nfl development league

[uk_dolfan]

The reason Soccer leagues (in Europe) have a reserve league is because they have nothing like the college system in the US. The teams like Man U, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid sign players as young as 8 years of age through their academies. The best then sign pro contracts at age 16, and unless exceptional play reserve soccer until they either break into first team squad or drop into lower league football.

It's exact same in Football. The best at high school go to college. The best college break to NFL or drop into Arena, Canada etc

I don't see the point trying to keep these guys for the odd player coming good. The majority would have showed it already



If they go to Canada or somewhere eg Cameron wake and earn a shot then great. Again in your original post you compared to soccer, it's like Ricky Lambert. Left Liverpool, played lower league and earned a shot.

It's not worth 32 teams of full squads tho. The college game is the development.

You are taking the reference too literally. There are american sports with college systems who use teams like this as well

 

[GasPed]

The ideal situation might be something similar to what you have in hockey where there's an independent league that starts at age 16. Those players get stipends, but there are rumors of the best players getting under the table payments. Players are draft eligible at 18, and the NHL team has the right to sign those players until age 21. Some NHL draft picks end up playing in the NCAA, while others stay in junior, until they're ready to make the jump to the pros.

You can adjust the ages to reflect the different physical nature of the NFL, but ultimately it does away with the notion that all players for SEC teams are really "student athletes". If a player wants to play in the NCAA, and wants to work towards a degree he can. If he just wants to devote all of his time to football, and get paid something to do it, it's actually better for all parties involved. The college teams still will get plenty of talented players, and more players that actually want to work towards a degree will have an opportunity for an athletic scholarship.

Basically, it would be a system where the Ryan Tannehill's of the world will play in the NCAA, while Julius Peppers type players could get a little money in their pocket before making the jump to the pros. In the meantime, someone who would otherwise be a borderline Division I player would end up getting a shot at an athletic scholarship, and get an education that he would actually use in the process. At the same time, NFL teams wouldn't have to worry about investing a lot of money in a separate developmental league.

Unfortunately, in order for it to work, you would need a lot of rich guys to come together to build the infrastructure and marketing efforts to get it off the ground. A lot of those rich guys though are already boosters for NCAA programs. The current system has way too much inertia going for it, and, if anything, the rules for pro eligibility only tend to get ratcheted up instead of relaxed.

However, the NHL also has their farm league system in addition to the junior hockey/university hockey system you're talking about. Not only is it a developmental league, but it also acts as a roster buffer for injuries, etc. as guys get called up from or demoted to the minors on a day-to-day basis.

The big problem with a football developmental league though, is the limited number of games from which to draw revenue (unlike hockey, baseball, basketball). If you only have 10 home games and can only charge $20 a ticket for a 20,000 seat stadium - well, you do the math. Try supporting a 50 person team, a staff, and an equipment/travel/operations budget on a $4,000,000 gate. It's not pretty.

 

[dolpns13]

No it doesn't. But good try.

Samsung Galaxy S III

I suppose it wouldn't to someone who can't comprehend the article. I mean the very first guy is Lucky. Not sure why you think the developmental league didn't help him but ok

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[dolpns13]

What if you make tickets cheap like we have the Brevard manatees here as minor league MLB. Tickets are cheap. You just can't get greedy. Your paying these guys cheap so you have to charge cheap. I'm not sure what tickets cost in the XFL or Europe or any other football league tried out. But I'm sure overcharging was the issue

The city I'm from has both a minor league baseball team and a minor league hockey team. The hockey team sells out every game and the baseball team does very well. They're both older than I am and I'm 38

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[NJ Dolphan]

However, the NHL also has their farm league system in addition to the junior hockey/university hockey system you're talking about. Not only is it a developmental league, but it also acts as a roster buffer for injuries, etc. as guys get called up from or demoted to the minors on a day-to-day basis.

The big problem with a football developmental league though, is the limited number of games from which to draw revenue (unlike hockey, baseball, basketball). If you only have 10 home games and can only charge $20 a ticket for a 20,000 seat stadium - well, you do the math. Try supporting a 50 person team, a staff, and an equipment/travel/operations budget on a $4,000,000 gate. It's not pretty.

The lack of a minor league system for the NFL doesn't really change things all that much. It's just a matter of whether the players go to college or another league. Junior hockey exists regardless of a farm system. In fact, you can't shuttle back between junior and the AHL.

The players would get paid, but not that much. If it's $20k per year with room and board it's not a bad deal for a teenager. You could keep the schedule regional, which is how junior hockey works, to cut down on air fare, etc.

No ones going to get filthy rich over it though.


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[Jupiter561]

I suppose it wouldn't to someone who can't comprehend the article. I mean the very first guy is Lucky. Not sure why you think the developmental league didn't help him but ok

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I love how since it's not true that it means I can't comprehend the article. Just because it helped him doesn't mean it will work overall.

 

[jtsacksyou]

It could be really profitable if they did it right. The Miami team couldn't play in Miami, theres too many other things to do to support a farm team (they barely can support the Dolphins). A good example from baseball.. the Cincinnati Red's single A farm team (thats 4 steps down (AAA, AA, Adv A, A) the Dayton Dragons, have the longest sellout streak in all of sports. They've sold out every game of their existence. The elite 8 Dayton Flyers have the 28th best attendance in all of college hoops. (I live in Dayton hence the examples). Point being, when there is no major attraction, smaller events that give people something to do succeed. The NFL would need to be strategic about where it puts these teams. Big market isn't important, loyal fanbases would be.

 

[vagrantprodigy]

It could be really profitable if they did it right. The Miami team couldn't play in Miami, theres too many other things to do to support a farm team (they barely can support the Dolphins). A good example from baseball.. the Cincinnati Red's single A farm team (thats 4 steps down (AAA, AA, Adv A, A) the Dayton Dragons, have the longest sellout streak in all of sports. They've sold out every game of their existence. The elite 8 Dayton Flyers have the 28th best attendance in all of college hoops. (I live in Dayton hence the examples). Point being, when there is no major attraction, smaller events that give people something to do succeed. The NFL would need to be strategic about where it puts these teams. Big market isn't important, loyal fanbases would be.

You could combine Tampa, Miami, and Jacksonville's developmental squads, and put them in Orlando.

 

[dlockz]

I like a developmental league. You could have like 8 teams Initially teams draft and when NFL teams make players available they are done from worst to first draft order.
Orlando, San Antonio, Portland, all definates .
Other cities like El paso, Oklahoma City, San Jose or Anaheim, Louisville, LAs Vegas, Columbus, Nashville, Raleigh, Omaha, Va Beach, Austin

If the NFL was smart could be a decent venture. Only issue is when to schedule. A spring league does little to develop but with the way the NFL is it might be the only way.
40 man rosters something like a 6 to 8 game schedule with a basic salary for 50,000. Each teams salary cap is 2 million. Each NFL club invests like 500,000 a piece towards salary and its a painless money hit to try to develop players.
Let advertsising on uniforms at least one. Market the league to Espn or Versus for televised rights since it will have NFL stamp on it. It could work

 

[DisturbedShifty]

I like a developmental league. You could have like 8 teams Initially teams draft and when NFL teams make players available they are done from worst to first draft order.
Orlando, San Antonio, Portland, all definates .
Other cities like El paso, Oklahoma City, San Jose or Anaheim, Louisville, LAs Vegas, Columbus, Nashville, Raleigh, Omaha, Va Beach, Austin

If the NFL was smart could be a decent venture. Only issue is when to schedule. A spring league does little to develop but with the way the NFL is it might be the only way.
40 man rosters something like a 6 to 8 game schedule with a basic salary for 50,000. Each teams salary cap is 2 million. Each NFL club invests like 500,000 a piece towards salary and its a painless money hit to try to develop players.
Let advertsising on uniforms at least one. Market the league to Espn or Versus for televised rights since it will have NFL stamp on it. It could work

I think Colorado Springs would be a good market too. Hell its a test market anyway.

 

[dolpns13]

I love how since it's not true that it means I can't comprehend the article. Just because it helped him doesn't mean it will work overall.

I posted facts, not my opinion. One cannot discount facts no matter how hard they try, or do not want to believe it.

 

[Bob512]

It could be really profitable if they did it right. The Miami team couldn't play in Miami, theres too many other things to do to support a farm team (they barely can support the Dolphins). A good example from baseball.. the Cincinnati Red's single A farm team (thats 4 steps down (AAA, AA, Adv A, A) the Dayton Dragons, have the longest sellout streak in all of sports. They've sold out every game of their existence. The elite 8 Dayton Flyers have the 28th best attendance in all of college hoops. (I live in Dayton hence the examples). Point being, when there is no major attraction, smaller events that give people something to do succeed. The NFL would need to be strategic about where it puts these teams. Big market isn't important, loyal fanbases would be.

I tend to agree with this. I like the idea of a developmental league and I absolutely agree with the example above regarding small markets and attendance. I live in Myrtle Beach, SC and our local minor league team is very successful, as they are the only game in town. I would think they would definitely support a D league game at the right time of year (spring) to not only watch their favorite NFL teams prospects....but also this is SEC country......they also follow players careers after college around here.

Good training ground for referee's, trying out rules changes and anything else the NFL wants to BETA test.

 

[jetsh8r]

I think they should make 8 teams, with each team made up of players from each division. It would be a good chance to follow the rising players that the Jets, Pats and Bills have as well. I was thinking at one time that the team could play out of each of the 4 cities on a rotational basis, but Im not sure if that is doable or not.

---------- Post added at 09:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:41 PM ----------

The problem with the NFL Europe and WFL model for many NFL fans was that the players were spread out too much on each team. I couldnt get interested enough in one team that had one of our linebackers and another team had a wr and so forth.