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MLB has the minor leagues as their feeder program. The NFL has college football as their feeder program. There are a lot of tradeoffs, but in the end I think
by IvyMike 12y ago
MLB has the minor leagues as their feeder program.
The NFL has college football as their feeder program.
There are a lot of tradeoffs, but in the end I think the MLB's system is better. To me, the charade of "student athletes" in football gets more and more strained each year.
The question is if they did want to transition to a minor league football system, how can you go from here to there in an orderly fashion?
- remarkEon 12y agoI honestly don't think it would be possible. College Football is something that is so culturally engrained in America that even tinkering with it a little bit (like adding a tiny 4 team playoff) is met with huge amounts of skepticism. The MLB's system is also different because, on average, it takes longer to develop the typical player post-college. Obviously there are player outliers, but baseball is much more technical than football - which sort of justifies the entire farm system in and of itself. The incubation period is just typically longer.
- cpwright 12y agoIt seems like you could assign each existing NFL franchise the right to have a minor league franchise (maybe let them bid or have a lottery for the rights to specific cities); and then draft out of high-school and college rather than just out of college. The player's union would clearly have something to say about it, particularly if they can easily bring players up and down mid-season based on injuries or performance.
- remarkEon 12y agoMaybe. But you'd have to convince the NFL that a minor league is something worth investing in. A longer pipeline of higher volume of play means that the risk of injury would be substantially higher. The NFL seems more interesting in making money that dealing with anything more complex than moving a team to London.