Last week, the United Football League announced that the
rest of the 2012 season will be cancelled.
Players and agents had been vocal in their displeasure with the league’s
timeliness in paying weekly salaries, so the decision comes as no
surprise. The league announced that all
players will be paid in full for their services, but agent David Canter says
that he won’t be holding his breath.
The UFL was in the middle of its fourth season and had just
signed a television deal with CBS Sports Network for the 2012 season. Former New York Giants head coach Jim Fassel
was perhaps the biggest name still associated with the league as the head coach
of the Las Vegas Locomotives. The UFL
had big aspirations making some noise when the league was formed in 2009, but
ultimately it never had a chance to compete with the NFL. In fact, it never even had a chance to put
the smallest of dents in the NFL.
The fold of the UFL raises the question, what’s next for
player development in the NFL? The UFL
was never truly embraced as a feeder system for the NFL as the NFL never took
any interest in it. With NFL profits
seemingly maxed out for the next couple of years, could an NFL-subsidized minor
leagues of sorts be a new source of league revenue?
Under the current system, college football essentially
serves as the primary feeder into the NFL.
The big conferences have huge television rights deals and college
football is a lucrative business. There
is also an NFL rule stating that all players must be three years removed from
high school before playing in the league.
If the rule was changed to handle a minor league, would it be
profitable?
It’s tough to say.
Major League Baseball has the most successful league subsidized minor
league system, but there are no lucrative television deals. The National Basketball Association is in a
similar situation with the NBA Development League. But the NFL has popularity that both the MLB
and NBA do not. If there’s a league that
could do it though, it is the NFL.
I think it’s too easy to say that the NFL would have a
dominant minor league system with a big television deal. With the model of the two previously
mentioned minor leagues, it’s pretty clear that they aren’t at the top of the
fans viewing priority. I wonder if the
NFL could wrap in hypothetical minor league games with their television
contracts given the leverage that they have over networks. At the same time I also wonder how issues
like player safety and the short term nature of careers would affect a minor
league.
Another development to watch will be the revival of the United
States Football League (USFL). There are
reports of plans in place to bring back to once successful USFL as a true minor
league to the NFL. Of course the league
will not be subsidized by the NFL, but if there is no plan of competing with
the NFL directly, NFL subsidies cannot be ruled out in the future.
The final answer on an NFL minor league system is a
confusing one. I’m not too sure that the
NFL would take on such a risky investment given their sustained
profitability. Also, the league, as far
as I’ve read, seems to have little interest in development. The success of the college game has been
proven and is currently working for the NFL (even if the college game itself is broken). The topic of development leagues will be an
interesting one to keep track of into the future for the NFL, but not one to
hold your breath over. For now, keep an eye
out for leagues popping up here and there and keep track of the possible USFL
return. The only thing that seems
definite is if you’re an investor, stay away.
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