Players Rights

There's been a rash of college players skipping their final bowl game so that they won't get injured before the NFL draft. They've basically decided that they gave the university 50 games of their life for a scholarship to go to college, and one more meaningless bowl game is more than they want to risk.

Going into the draft 100% healthy sure beats blowing out a knee in that last game.

I agree with the strategy. The games they are skipping are not the National Championship, it's the Bill's Auto Tire Retread Bowl kind of game.

But a larger trend will be developing shortly. A few ex-NFL executives and players are planning a new PRO league, and It sound an awful lot like the idea I came up years ago in this blog. They will recruit and draft players right out of high school and they will PAY the players $50,000 a year to play for them until the NFL drafts them.

In effect, this new league will take the place of college for hundreds of players who don't wish to give up their services for free. The feeling is, "why should these colleges make billions of dollars in revenue every year while getting the top players services for free?"

It's a great question. The new league, Pacific Pro Football, is scheduled to start in 2018 with four teams but will quickly expand as more players see the need and investors get the TV contracts they desire. IF this new league is successful, watch colleges, their programs, and their dominance begin to decline sharply.

Their only alternative will be to start paying their students to play the game in order to compete.

I like the trend. There are 25 top teams in college every season with as many as 100 players on each squad. Imagine if most of them vanished over night to turn into a pro?

Alternatives are always good. This is a good trend. The University of Minnesota won't be so smug the next time they have to deal with a coach and his "unruly" program. Now THEIR money and funding will be at stake. I like it when the shoe is on the other foot.

Football revenue keeps major colleges afloat. That could all be changing rather quickly.