My idea for an NFL minor league system

[midwestpatsfan]

So I have been thinking about a way that the NFL could have a minor league system that would keep fans interested as well as make money and this is what I came up with.

Each team has players that did not see a lot of playing time for a variety of reasons, be it injury, veteran in front of them, learning system, etc.

After the draft, teams will have at or close to 90 players on their roster.

What if each team could create a roster from players who did not play a certain % of snaps last year and they could play in an 8 game season or something like that. Younger coaches from each teams staff could be the coaching staff as a develepmental league for coaches as well.

The draft could be moved up and with the new slotted system of pay and players signing faster, those new drafted guys could be on the team as well.

I realize that injuries could be a concern to my system, but injuries can happen at any time, it is a risk, yes, but the development of guys might be worth it.

I think a system like this would work better than say the NFL Europe because fans would still recognize and learn more about "their" guys, not just one or 2 guys scattered on several different teams.

Just off the top of my head, guys from the Patriots that would fill out this roster before the draft would be:
Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett
Shane Vereen, Stevan Ridley
Donald Thomas, Kyle Hix, Marcus Cannon
Ron Brace, Josh Barrett, Ras-I-Dowling, Marquis Cole, Jermaine Cunningham, Britt Davis.
there are more, I just can't think of the names, but hopefully you get my point.

Would you watch this type of minor league nfl?

 

[Rob0729]

The now defunct NFL Europa says hello.

Sorry, but the NFL tried this and it failed. There are some mediocre leagues that have failed or on life support like the UFL that are similiar to this and there isn't a market for it.

Besides, the league is even less likely to do it now with the new CBA limiting the length of new contracts even more and the possibility of the league looking to introduce more expansion teams in Los Angeles, Toronto, Mexico City, and/or London. If the league adds two more teams in the next 5-10 years, it is only going to water down the talent pool even more. Creating a minor league will only do more damage to the main product.

The NFL already has a minor league. It is called College Football. Unlike baseball, basketball, or to some extent hockey, 99% of the players are forced to spend 3-4 years playing in college. Baseball players can enter the minor leagues right out of high school. Basketball players can hit the pros at 19. International hockey players can join the NHL immediately after high school graduation. Football players must be 3 years removed from high school to enter the NFL/

 

[upstater1]

They should probably change the college teams to minor leagues. Just pay the players. But the whole system would have to change. They couldn't be students, they would just be hired guns. It would be warped and perverted, but no more so than the current system. I also think fans would lose interest pretty quickly. Players should realize that the facade/farce of their amateurism actually makes their sport very popular, and that they'd be no more popular than the WFL if that facade were destroyed. After all, the quality of most college football is no stronger than what we saw in the USFL or whatever.

 

[Funktopus]

It's tricky because when would you play? Friday is for high school, Saturday is college and Sunday is Pro. Naturally, I'd be in favor of adding another day to the weekend (which could only make the other 4 days more productive).

 

[Ron Sellers]

It's tricky because when would you play? Friday is for high school, Saturday is college and Sunday is Pro. Naturally, I'd be in favor of adding another day to the weekend (which could only make the other 4 days more productive).

I would assume that if this was going to take place it would be done sometime in May, June and July, so it would not compete directly with the NFL, college or high school football - similar to the CFL schedule.

I don't know if it is feasible with the NFLPA and the new CBA, even if it would be advantageous to the players and coaches that would be involved. Also, do teams want to risk an injury to a player like Ridley? How would the grind of all those extra games affect the performance of those players next November, December and beyond?


I like the idea of considering such a league, even if it's for an even shorter schedule; I wouldn't mind watching Pats prospects play a few games during the slow part of the off-season. I'm just not sure if it is workable considering the various obstacles.

 

[patfanken]

I played in the last true minor league. Back in the late 60's most NFL teams had affiliations with so called minor league teams. One of them was the Atlantic Coast League with teams in Quincy MA (Pats), Hartford (Bills) and Bridgeport (Jets) CT, LI (Giants) Harrisburg (Steelers) and Pottstown (Eagles) PA Richmond (Saints) and Roanoke (Skins) VA Salaries ranged from $250/game for guys like me up to $100,000 for a QB named King Cochran. BTW- to put it in better perspective the $250 a game I was making was more per week than I was making as a teacher. The crowds ranged from 10-15,000 for games in the northeast to 30-40,000 when we played in PA and VA. My coaches were mostly former players who looking to get into professional coaching (Bob Dee and Ross O'Hanley were 2 former Patriots who coached us)

I know there were a few other leagues in the west and south that were supported by NFL teams very similar to ours. However one of the agreements to the merger of the NFL and AFL was that when it became final in 1970, no NFL team could have any affiliation with a "minor league" entity. Without that financial support several teams folded immediately including the Quincy Giants

I believe that a true minor league COULD work as long as the teams regionally located. The success of Minor league baseball has proven that it can be done. I think you could have 4 leagues geographically centered of 8 teams each playing a 10 game season. Regional TV networks could support it (like comcast NE) Then at the end of the year the winners of the 4 leagues could play a 2 game playoff (now were talking ESPN) for the minor league championship. Each team could have a 45 man roster and the NFL teams could make their PS's available for games. Teams would practice 3 days a week in the evening and play their games on a Thursday.

Except for the PS players, it could still be a part time job. Players would get between $500-1500/game. Each year the league would produce 5-10 NFL players, but it would also provide a great breeding ground for coaches as well.

If the teams got $10MM from their parent team and a couple from the TV revenue, you could run a franchise on $12MM per year.if it were well run.

 

[Avenger]

I posted a proposal in the practice squad a while ago:

Each team will have one farm team in a non-NFL city in geographical proximity to the parent club at a college stadium
There will be four divisions of eight teams each, an Eastern Division that has teams from the AFC East and NFC East, a Northern Division that has teams from the AFC North and NFC North, a Southern Division that has team from the AFC South and NFC South, and a Western Division with teams from the AFC West and NFC West
There will be eight games played round-robin style by each team playing the other teams in its division and one other team
The first four games played would be played in July, the last four played in September, the break in the middle for the NFL pre-season where players would join the parent club
July games will be played Saturday and Sunday, September games played Tuesday and Wednesday
Playoffs will have the division winners play a four team single elimination playoff over the course of two weeks following the end of the D-League season
Each game will have forty-five active players, with no more than ten having more than four years of NFL experience
All rookies will be required to play a combined eight games in the D-League and preseason, this can be any combination of eight games in the D-League and none in the preseason, or four games in each of the preseason and D-League, seven D-league and one preseason or six D-League and two preseason
D-League players will be on the 90-man roster of the parent club, and can be called up to replace injured players
D-league players can play in regular season games for the parent club without counting against the 45-man active roster provided they play fewer than 20% of offensive or defensive snaps, up seven players can use this exemption per game, if the number of snaps played exceeds 20% they will be ineligible to play in the next D-League game
After week nine of the NFL regular season, the active roster size will increase by ten, with the rest of the D-League players designated to practice squad or inactive or reserve lists, and can be activated to replace players assigned to the injured reserve
Benefits of the D-League include payer development, and access to more markets and TV revenue for the NFL, the NFLPA would benefit by having more dues-paying members and more jobs for both rookies and veterans

 

[Avenger]

And also the NFL Europe was only losing $20 million a year. For the developmental aspect I think it was worth that alone, along with expanding the sport into Europe, but that aspect has been taken over by a regular season game.

 

[Reckedtrek]

I'd love to have football 11 1/2 months a year... two weeks to really miss it, and then back again.. so in theory I'd be very happy to have football minor league.

In practice, especially with the ways things are and the way they're going, I don't see it happening. Just because there aren't actual games from early Feb- early August doesn't mean that there aren't tons of things going on with the Pats and other teams.

Too bad, because in many ways it would be a football junky's dream come true.

 

[TheComeback]

The now defunct NFL Europa says hello.

Sorry, but the NFL tried this and it failed. There are some mediocre leagues that have failed or on life support like the UFL that are similiar to this and there isn't a market for it.

The NFL has never really tried to create a minor league. The UFL was not the NFL's doing. Neither was the USFL. NFL Europa was more of an experiment to bring football to Europe than a true minor league.

You can debate whether a minor league is really necessary or not.

I happen to think it would be useful for the teams. It's a huge roster extension; it gives you a chance to develop lower-rung players without giving up roster spots. It would also allow teams to add more pro-ready players when the injury bug hits, improving the quality of the product.

Seeing as thousands of people leave the college game to play in the AFL, UFL, and other pro/semi-pro football leagues, I seriously doubt there'd be a shortage of these guys willing to play in the minors. On top of that, no, college football is not "minor league NFL."

The majority of college players are not even close to ready to play in the big leagues when they leave school. Having a minor league system where they learn from NFL coaches and playbooks could actually go a long way toward improving the quality of the game.

Finally, I think that fans would be much more interested in watching minor league teams where the players had a legitimate chance to play on the fans' favorite NFL team, and where the minor league teams were an official extension of a real NFL franchise with NFL branding. It would only make sense if the teams were located in the same region as the NFL franchise.

Minor league baseball teams are pretty popular and so are minor league hockey teams.

 

[Wolfpack]

The NFL has never really tried to create a minor league. The UFL was not the NFL's doing. Neither was the USFL. NFL Europa was more of an experiment to bring football to Europe than a true minor league.

You forget that NFL Europa started out as the WLAF (World League of American Football) and had teams in Raleigh-Durham, New York, Sacramento, Orlando, Birmingham, Montreal and San Antonio as well as London, Frankfurt and Barcelona. It had a national TV contract and played in major stadiums. But, like all those other defunct leagues, it just didn't sell.

We already have minor league football; it's called the NCAA. Why should the NFL spend millions and millions to get something they already enjoy for free? The only problem with the current system is I genuinely feel bad for quarterbacks assigned to a backup role who literally can go several years without ever seeing meaningful action. But you can't create a whole new league just for the benefit of players at that one position.

 

[McGinley]

UFL, AFL, etc.

 

[jmt57]

I played in the last true minor league. Back in the late 60's most NFL teams had affiliations with so called minor league teams. One of them was the Atlantic Coast League with teams in Quincy MA (Pats), Hartford (Bills) and Bridgeport (Jets) CT, LI (Giants) Harrisburg (Steelers) and Pottstown (Eagles) PA Richmond (Saints) and Roanoke (Skins) VA Salaries ranged from $250/game for guys like me up to $100,000 for a QB named King Cochran. BTW- to put it in better perspective the $250 a game I was making was more per week than I was making as a teacher. The crowds ranged from 10-15,000 for games in the northeast to 30-40,000 when we played in PA and VA. My coaches were mostly former players who looking to get into professional coaching (Bob Dee and Ross O'Hanley were 2 former Patriots who coached us).

I think I may have seen some of those games. I vaguely remember going to a few games at what was then a somewhat dirty, rundown old Veterans' Memorial Stadium in Quincy in the late sixties, maybe early seventies. (Of course dirty old stadiums were the norm for all the pro teams in the area at that time too, but I digress.) At the time I was very surprised at the size of the crowd: comparable to what there would be at Red Sox, Bruins or Celtics games at that time, and dwarfing that of local high school football games.

I'm guessing that may have been the same league, but perhaps I'm thinking of some other semi-pro league from that time.



____________________




All Things Pats

 

[IcyPatriot]

I think this idea appeals to people living in areas like New England.

Areas where high school and college are big time would probably care less about it.

 

[Mystery Pats Fan]

I played in the last true minor league. Back in the late 60's most NFL teams had affiliations with so called minor league teams. One of them was the Atlantic Coast League with teams in Quincy MA (Pats), Hartford (Bills) and Bridgeport (Jets) CT, LI (Giants) Harrisburg (Steelers) and Pottstown (Eagles) PA Richmond (Saints) and Roanoke (Skins) VA Salaries ranged from $250/game for guys like me up to $100,000 for a QB named King Cochran. BTW- to put it in better perspective the $250 a game I was making was more per week than I was making as a teacher. The crowds ranged from 10-15,000 for games in the northeast to 30-40,000 when we played in PA and VA. My coaches were mostly former players who looking to get into professional coaching (Bob Dee and Ross O'Hanley were 2 former Patriots who coached us)

I know there were a few other leagues in the west and south that were supported by NFL teams very similar to ours. However one of the agreements to the merger of the NFL and AFL was that when it became final in 1970, no NFL team could have any affiliation with a "minor league" entity. Without that financial support several teams folded immediately including the Quincy Giants

I believe that a true minor league COULD work as long as the teams regionally located. The success of Minor league baseball has proven that it can be done. I think you could have 4 leagues geographically centered of 8 teams each playing a 10 game season. Regional TV networks could support it (like comcast NE) Then at the end of the year the winners of the 4 leagues could play a 2 game playoff (now were talking ESPN) for the minor league championship. Each team could have a 45 man roster and the NFL teams could make their PS's available for games. Teams would practice 3 days a week in the evening and play their games on a Thursday.

Except for the PS players, it could still be a part time job. Players would get between $500-1500/game. Each year the league would produce 5-10 NFL players, but it would also provide a great breeding ground for coaches as well.

If the teams got $10MM from their parent team and a couple from the TV revenue, you could run a franchise on $12MM per year.if it were well run.

The team that played in Quincy originally played in Everett as the Boston Sweepers and won two ACFL championships. The league was much bigger then, two divisions north and south, and the entire length of the Atlantic Coast from Portland, Maine to Miami, Florida. I can give you the names of most of the teams.

The Sweepers were owned by Teddy Barron and had two former Pats as coaches, Buth Songin and Rommie Loudd.

Donnie Allard, from BC, was the quarterback. One of the players, punter/WR Rick Sapienza is etched forever in Patriots lore. He was the punter for the Titans of New York (Jets) in the American Football league and in one game, the first year I believe, 1960, with under a minute to go and the Titans leading by four or five, went back to punt, had it blocked and Chuck Shonta, I believe, ran it in for the winning score.

When they moved to Lowell they were the Lowell Giants and were owned by Connie Pensavale (sp.) and the GM was Chuck Fucillo.

Then, they moved from Lowell to Quincy.

 

[Mystery Pats Fan]

I think I may have seen some of those games. I vaguely remember going to a few games at what was then a somewhat dirty, rundown old Veterans' Memorial Stadium in Quincy in the late sixties, maybe early seventies. (Of course dirty old stadiums were the norm for all the pro teams in the area at that time too, but I digress.) At the time I was very surprised at the size of the crowd: comparable to what there would be at Red Sox, Bruins or Celtics games at that time, and dwarfing that of local high school football games.

I'm guessing that may have been the same league, but perhaps I'm thinking of some other semi-pro league from that time.



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All Things Pats

There was another league and I believe it was the EFL with teams in Randolph, Middleboro, Marblehead and several other local communities. it was a pretty good brand of football but at a much lesser level than the ACFL.

Apparently they are still operating. here's a link to their web site.

My brother in law played for the Middleboro Cobras who were always one of the top teams.

Eastern Football League "The Best Game In Town" Est. 1961.

http://www.eteamz.com/middleborocobras/

 

[patfanken]

I think I may have seen some of those games. I vaguely remember going to a few games at what was then a somewhat dirty, rundown old Veterans' Memorial Stadium in Quincy in the late sixties, maybe early seventies. (Of course dirty old stadiums were the norm for all the pro teams in the area at that time too, but I digress.) At the time I was very surprised at the size of the crowd: comparable to what there would be at Red Sox, Bruins or Celtics games at that time, and dwarfing that of local high school football games.

I'm guessing that may have been the same league, but perhaps I'm thinking of some other semi-pro league from that time.



____________________




All Things Pats

Yup JM that was the place in the fall of 1969, God man have you just dated yourself. It was also the home of both Quincy and North Quincy HS.

And you are right we got decent crowds to our games, but Hartford would always sell out, and when we played in PA and VA, the crowds were always over 30,000

Mystery is right. They year before they played in Lowell. In fact, IIRC when I first started tryouts the team was supposed to be in Lowell, but that changed early on. It was fortunate for me because I was teaching in Dorchester and coaching in Braintree and living in Brookline. It would have been a hell of a commute to practice and games in Lowell. As it was doing all 3 was a LOOOONNNNG day

A well managed, properly supported minor league WOULD work. I think it was working back then...until the NFL pulled the plug. Maybe some day after the draft when things are REALLY boring, I'll put down the plan on paper.

 

[patfanken]

There was another league and I believe it was the EFL with teams in Randolph, Middleboro, Marblehead and several other local communities. it was a pretty good brand of football but at a much lesser level than the ACFL.

Apparently they are still operating. here's a link to their web site.

My brother in law played for the Middleboro Cobras who were always one of the top teams.

Eastern Football League "The Best Game In Town" Est. 1961.

Middleboro Cobras

The EFL has been around for a long time. One year the Middleboro, Milford, or Malboro team IIRC won a mythical national club football championship.

 

[blackglass3]

NFL Europa is a bad example, Europeans aren't really into our football to begin with. Trying to sell them on it by watching Rohan Davey or Kliff Kingsbury did the NFL no favors in expanding the market over there. Plus the games were always on very early in the morning on NFLN here, so we also had very little reason to watch it.

The XFL had some good ideas (skycam that ESPN still uses, I liked the different XP choices) but was killed by Vince McMahon trying to make it too wrestling like and having too big of dreams of directly competing with the NFL. UFL made sense keeping things small and in fertile football areas, but suffered from horrible TV production and game times/channels. It looked like A/V students shot them and you never knew when they were on due to lack of advertising.

There HAS to be a middle ground somewhere. I would love to watch some football right now (No AFL thanks) and I imagine as long as it was competitive and not promising "cheerleader locker room access" we would be able to take it seriously. And it would need the NFL's support and nurturing, they would have to be patient with it. Oh, and the games should be played in America, not Europe.

 

[Avenger]

A well managed, properly supported minor league WOULD work. I think it was working back then...until the NFL pulled the plug. Maybe some day after the draft when things are REALLY boring, I'll put down the plan on paper.

What do you think of the proposal I wrote up?