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Seems to me that the NFL needs a good minor league system. It would help teams evaluate potential performers and help players meet an adequate standard of livi

Seems to me that the NFL needs a good minor league system. It would help teams evaluate potential performers and help players meet an adequate standard of living. I know it was tried with the XFL but that was a PR mess.

slindz 11y ago
Many would argue that is exactly what the NCAA is.
- Consultant32452 11y ago
  I prefer arena football over the NFL and it's basically the people who couldn't make it into the NFL.
- srtjstjsj 11y ago
  NCAA would never admit that their "scholar athletes" are a minor league!
cortesoft 11y ago
The problem with a minor league for the NFL versus other sports is that an American football career is so short. You only have a few years of that level of physical abuse before you are done. By the time you spent a few years in the minor leagues, your career is almost over. This isn't like baseball, where a player peaks around 29 and you need more time for getting experience.
exelius 11y ago
The NFL has that. It's called the NCAA; that way they don't have to pay the players. Now that the NFL is essentially a front for gambling in the form of "daily fantasy sports" (DFS), I'm curious if they'll set up a development league so they can monetize that aspect of it as well. For those who don't know, the NFL, MLB and NBA are all heavily in bed with DFS from an ownership perspective. The leagues either directly or indirectly (through investments by team owners) hold large investments all the major DFS providers. That's why you see DFS promotions in pre-game, on major sports sites, etc. That's also why the major sports leagues, after decades of fighting against sports gambling, have gone all-in the other direction.
russnewcomer 11y ago
A good minor league for football would be pretty expensive, just considering travel. If you're traveling with 40 guys (the realistic minimum that you could take to field a team), that gets expensive pretty fast. A true minor league could probably work if the NFL teams agreed to subsidize it, and they put it in a single major metro area. Like, the NFL has a 4 team minor league in Dallas, and did a lot of community marketing, played on high school fields, etc. You could build a single gym/practice facility, and the teams could rotate around in it. The problems are that you start to get into affiliation issues (what major teams are affiliated with what minor teams, and what does a major team do when it wants to send down a CB, but there are no teams that play man press with open slots for a CB?) and the fact that football is much, much more a team game than baseball or basketball, and most players need a couple weeks in the system to really make an impact, whereas a baseball player can get traded from one team to another with minimal adjustment, and a skilled basketball player won't need much more time. The other issue is that there already is a sort of minor league, it's called the practice squad. And if you have minor leagues, the practice squad guys are in a weird limbo, because they are not getting game reps like they would in a minor league, yet they are the guys just good enough to almost be NFL players who would benefit the least from game reps, because of the work they are putting in with the full team. There are actually many minor football leagues, most playing indoor football, and those guys almost never make it to the NFL. For the NFL, the real solution isn't a minor league, it's doubling the practice squad. That could cost each team about... (using numbers from the article) $1.5 million, and that's probably the best solution if the powers-that-be really feel there is a talent gap.

slindz 11y ago

Many would argue that is exactly what the NCAA is.

Consultant32452 11y ago
I prefer arena football over the NFL and it's basically the people who couldn't make it into the NFL.
srtjstjsj 11y ago
NCAA would never admit that their "scholar athletes" are a minor league!

cortesoft 11y ago

The problem with a minor league for the NFL versus other sports is that an American football career is so short. You only have a few years of that level of physical abuse before you are done. By the time you spent a few years in the minor leagues, your career is almost over. This isn't like baseball, where a player peaks around 29 and you need more time for getting experience.

exelius 11y ago

The NFL has that. It's called the NCAA; that way they don't have to pay the players. Now that the NFL is essentially a front for gambling in the form of "daily fantasy sports" (DFS), I'm curious if they'll set up a development league so they can monetize that aspect of it as well. For those who don't know, the NFL, MLB and NBA are all heavily in bed with DFS from an ownership perspective. The leagues either directly or indirectly (through investments by team owners) hold large investments all the major DFS providers. That's why you see DFS promotions in pre-game, on major sports sites, etc. That's also why the major sports leagues, after decades of fighting against sports gambling, have gone all-in the other direction.

russnewcomer 11y ago

A good minor league for football would be pretty expensive, just considering travel. If you're traveling with 40 guys (the realistic minimum that you could take to field a team), that gets expensive pretty fast. A true minor league could probably work if the NFL teams agreed to subsidize it, and they put it in a single major metro area. Like, the NFL has a 4 team minor league in Dallas, and did a lot of community marketing, played on high school fields, etc. You could build a single gym/practice facility, and the teams could rotate around in it. The problems are that you start to get into affiliation issues (what major teams are affiliated with what minor teams, and what does a major team do when it wants to send down a CB, but there are no teams that play man press with open slots for a CB?) and the fact that football is much, much more a team game than baseball or basketball, and most players need a couple weeks in the system to really make an impact, whereas a baseball player can get traded from one team to another with minimal adjustment, and a skilled basketball player won't need much more time. The other issue is that there already is a sort of minor league, it's called the practice squad. And if you have minor leagues, the practice squad guys are in a weird limbo, because they are not getting game reps like they would in a minor league, yet they are the guys just good enough to almost be NFL players who would benefit the least from game reps, because of the work they are putting in with the full team. There are actually many minor football leagues, most playing indoor football, and those guys almost never make it to the NFL. For the NFL, the real solution isn't a minor league, it's doubling the practice squad. That could cost each team about... (using numbers from the article) $1.5 million, and that's probably the best solution if the powers-that-be really feel there is a talent gap.