3 ms·

The NFL doesn't exist without the legions of unpaid, bodies-broken, brain-scrambled college (and high school) athletes who get nothing for their troubles.

le-mark 9y ago
Plus, only elite NFL players get the million dollar contracts, the rest are at league minimum, which many silicon valley devs surpass.
- eropple 9y ago
  I wouldn't say "many" Valley developers make more than $465,000 (rookie minimum) and I definitely wouldn't say that "many" Valley developers make more than $775,000 (a four-year veteran minimum). However, the earning potential certainly is stretched out. Practice squad, players, however, make about $120,000 per season, which is certainly in the ballpark.
  - le-mark 9y ago
    Oops, I should've verified, last I remember the league minimum was on the order of $250k. Apologies!
    - eropple 9y ago
      No worries--I mean, the point you're making remains valid.
    - Bud 9y ago
      Also let's take into account that players only get these salaries for a few years, on average. NFL average career lengths are brutally short: 3.3 years according to the NFL Players' Association.
criley2 9y ago
I would argue that the NCAA stands in the way of a true professional minor system similar to Baseball. NFL doesn't prevent the minors from existing, NCAA does.
- eropple 9y ago
  You can argue that, but it's not particularly true or relevant. The NCAA is the recruiting pipeline because the NFL wants it to be. No other reason. If it's not the recruiting pipeline, it's relegated to obscurity and general irrelevance--see NCAA hockey for an example. The NCAA is still a monstrously shitty organization, but don't try to excuse the NHL because of it--not least because minor leagues still don't solve the problem that high schools and colleges, too, profit from breaking the bodies and the brains of their athletes as they hope to make it to the NFL. The NFL is the goal, and everyone else profits from young athletes destroying themselves to try to get there. Football is intrinsically dangerous as a sport, intrinsically exploitative as a business at each and every level, and intrinsically immoral to watch or support in a way that no other American sport, not even hockey, can manage.
- philwelch 9y ago
  The NBA has been slowly working to cut out the NCAA from their development pipeline. There's no reason the NFL couldn't do the same if they wanted to.

le-mark 9y ago

Plus, only elite NFL players get the million dollar contracts, the rest are at league minimum, which many silicon valley devs surpass.

eropple 9y ago
I wouldn't say "many" Valley developers make more than $465,000 (rookie minimum) and I definitely wouldn't say that "many" Valley developers make more than $775,000 (a four-year veteran minimum). However, the earning potential certainly is stretched out. Practice squad, players, however, make about $120,000 per season, which is certainly in the ballpark.
- le-mark 9y ago
  Oops, I should've verified, last I remember the league minimum was on the order of $250k. Apologies!
  - eropple 9y ago
    No worries--I mean, the point you're making remains valid.
  - Bud 9y ago
    Also let's take into account that players only get these salaries for a few years, on average. NFL average career lengths are brutally short: 3.3 years according to the NFL Players' Association.

criley2 9y ago

I would argue that the NCAA stands in the way of a true professional minor system similar to Baseball. NFL doesn't prevent the minors from existing, NCAA does.

eropple 9y ago
You can argue that, but it's not particularly true or relevant. The NCAA is the recruiting pipeline because the NFL wants it to be. No other reason. If it's not the recruiting pipeline, it's relegated to obscurity and general irrelevance--see NCAA hockey for an example. The NCAA is still a monstrously shitty organization, but don't try to excuse the NHL because of it--not least because minor leagues still don't solve the problem that high schools and colleges, too, profit from breaking the bodies and the brains of their athletes as they hope to make it to the NFL. The NFL is the goal, and everyone else profits from young athletes destroying themselves to try to get there. Football is intrinsically dangerous as a sport, intrinsically exploitative as a business at each and every level, and intrinsically immoral to watch or support in a way that no other American sport, not even hockey, can manage.
philwelch 9y ago
The NBA has been slowly working to cut out the NCAA from their development pipeline. There's no reason the NFL couldn't do the same if they wanted to.