Delaney: Let Players Bypass College

[ND NYC]

no use for the guy on just about everything but...BUT...i cant say i disagree with Delaney on this one:

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany discusses possible football, basketball changes - ESPN

Delany: Let players bypass college

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said Wednesday that Division I football and basketball might be better served by following Major League Baseball's model, in that players are allowed to sign professionally right out of high school.

"Maybe in football and basketball, it would work better if more kids had a chance to go directly into the professional ranks," Delany said. "If they're not comfortable and want to monetize, let the minor leagues flourish. Train at IMG, get agents to invest in your body, get agents to invest in your likeness and establish it on your own. But don't come here and say, 'We want to be paid $25,000 or $50,000.' Go to the D-League and get it, go to the NBA and get it, go to the NFL and get it. Don't ask us what we've been doing.

"If an athlete wants to professionalize themselves, professionalize themselves. We've been training kids for professional sports. I argue it's the color, I argue it's the institution. If you think it's about you, then talk to John Havlicek about that, you've got to talk to Michael Jordan about that. These brands have been built over 100 years."

Delany said a restructuring plan in college sports must be in place by next spring to create better balance educationally and more options, including increasing the value of athletic scholarships. He said the major conferences need the "legislative autonomy" to push through some major changes.

If the major conferences don't reach a consensus, they should be criticized, Delany said.

"You don't have to play for the Redskins or the Bears at 17, but you could develop IMG," Delany said. "My gosh, there are lots of trainers out there. There are quarterback coaches teaching passing skills, guys lifting weights, guys training and running. They can get as strong and as fast in that environment as they can in this environment. Plus, they don't have to go to school. Plus, they can sell their likeness and do whatever they want to do. We don't want to do that. What we want to do is do what we've been doing for 100 years. ...

"I think we ought to work awful hard with the NFL and the NBA to create an opportunity for those folks. We have it in baseball, we have it in golf, works pretty good, we have it in golf, we have it in hockey. Why don't we have it in football, basketball? Why is it our job to be minor leagues for professional sports?"

Delany's comments came on the same day the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and the IA Athletic Directors Association wrapped up their meetings in Dallas.

The athletic directors say they discussed topics ranging from NCAA governance and enforcement to the disparity of interests and resources among Division I schools to the rejection of "pay-for-play."

Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke said: "Pay for play has no part in the amateur setting."

Burke noted the value of a full scholarship and support services at Purdue is worth more than $250,000.

NCAA president Mark Emmert has endorsed making changes to the way the 351 Division I schools make rules governing college athletics.

 

[CanadalovesND]

A whole new generation of athletes not going to college/university... oh ya, that's just what your country needs.

I rather much enjoy the system now. Maybe if these student athletes had some sort of money management, they could have a bit of spending cash for school. Because, as you know, they save quite the sum of money by not having to pay for tuition/residence/books

 

[greyhammer90]

He's telling them to go somewhere else because he knows they won't.

 

[Andy in Sactown]

That would do a serious disadvantage to everyone involved except for the 1% of the 1% of gifted athletes.

No education to fall back on, and look at what that model has done to college basketball.. it's not even close to being on the level it was before the rule change.

**** this generation's sense of entitlement (coming from a democrat, by the way).

 

[Brirish]

You captured my feelings exactly. Entitlement disease is ruining everything in our country. I never thought it would take college football from me too

 

[NDPhilly]

Players being allowed to bypass college probably would help ND recruiting wise. Players that don't care about academics aren't coming here anyway.

 

[greyhammer90]

That would do a serious disadvantage to everyone involved except for the 1% of the 1% of gifted athletes.

No education to fall back on, and look at what that model has done to college basketball.. it's not even close to being on the level it was before the rule change.

**** this generation's sense of entitlement (coming from a democrat, by the way).

You captured my feelings exactly. Entitlement disease is ruining everything in our country. I never thought it would take college football from me too

Anyone feel like a stirring rendition of Nocturne?

 

[woolybug25]

I agree with Delaney. It would help curtail the culture of a semi-pro atmosphere of the SEC. The rampant cheating going on around the league is ridiculous. There is a certain amount of kids that aren't taking advantage of getting an education (ie not really going to school, learning, graduating, etc) and just playing football.

It's frankly killing the idea of amatuerism in college football. I personally don't want to see college football becoming semipro football. I would love to see an Olympic model where kids could market themselves outside of the universities and a semi pro league where kids that don't care about education can go throw caution to the wind and quit denegrading the soul of college football.

 

[stlnd01]

Another problem with this idea is that the NFL likes things just great the way they are right now. They've got no incentive to invest in a D-League and mess with 18-year-olds when college ball supplies them with an endless supply of 22-year-old talent, developed to a pretty high level, every year. The cost of re-creating that would be huge.

Also, and Delany knows it, without the platform of big-time college football, how are these kids going to be "monetized"? How many people can even name 10 minor league baseball players? I guess agents might take a bet on them even if teams don't. But the average NFL career is only three-something years. Not much time to build ROI.

All around, do this and even more kids would get chewed up and spit out than already are by college and pro football, and at an even younger age.

 

[stlnd01]

I agree with Delaney. It would help curtail the culture of a semi-pro atmosphere of the SEC. The rampant cheating going on around the league is ridiculous. There is a certain amount of kids that aren't taking advantage of getting an education (ie not really going to school, learning, graduating, etc) and just playing football.

Sure. But at some level the schools have to be accountable for holding up their end of the bargain. They're the ones making all the money on this.
Do this with four-year scholarships, guaranteed (maybe bump up the limit from 85 to 100 or something to make up for injuries and whatnot). Serious penalties for low graduation rates. Stop steering kids to BS majors so they only focus on football. An honest realization that few people make never-need-to-work-again money playing in the NFL and that a free college education is no small thing in this world.
f you want to save the soul of college football, you need to change the culture to be at least as much about college as it is about football.

 

[woolybug25]

Another problem with this idea is that the NFL likes things just great the way they are right now. They've got no incentive to invest in a D-League and mess with 18-year-olds when college ball supplies them with an endless supply of 22-year-old talent, developed to a pretty high level, every year. The cost of re-creating that would be huge.

If they are tied to a specific team, ala MLB, then they have a HUGE incentive. They can control how they are used, what they learn and when they are ready to be moved onto their team. Kids that would want to bypass college would go through the draft just like other players. Then NFL players can manage their rosters and players in a much better way.

Also, and Delany knows it, without the platform of big-time college football, how are these kids going to be "monetized"? How many people can even name 10 minor league baseball players? I guess agents might take a bet on them even if teams don't. But the average NFL career is only three-something years. Not much time to build ROI.

This would greatly increase the length of players careers, as they can develop correctly, get the medical attention the teams desire and can make money on "potential" longer by playing in the minors.

All around, do this and even more kids would get chewed up and spit out than already are by college and pro football, and at an even younger age.

Less kids would get "spit out". There are a massive amount of spit out kids from oversigning, poor graduation rates and lack of actual schooling they are getting. Those kids would have the opportunity to work on getting a minor league contract and keep their dream alive.

We are in a "semi-pro" atmosphere right now. You have to ask yourself, do you want college football to continue to become a semi pro league or do you want it to be the amatuer/education based league it was intended to be in the first place?

 

[Me2SouthBend]

Another problem with this idea is that the NFL likes things just great the way they are right now. They've got no incentive to invest in a D-League and mess with 18-year-olds when college ball supplies them with an endless supply of 22-year-old talent, developed to a pretty high level, every year. The cost of re-creating that would be huge.

Also, and Delany knows it, without the platform of big-time college football, how are these kids going to be "monetized"? How many people can even name 10 minor league baseball players? I guess agents might take a bet on them even if teams don't. But the average NFL career is only three-something years. Not much time to build ROI.

All around, do this and even more kids would get chewed up and spit out than already are by college and pro football, and at an even younger age.

Let it happen. Let the NFL draft HS players and let them make the decision whether or not they make their roster. If they don't think they're ready, they can let them develop in a D League. Or they can dip into a D League as part of their annual draft just as they do w college players. To me it seems the $EC and similar scumbag schools will be the ones that take a hit from a model like this. So many of those kids aren't going to school as it is, just getting a free pass while biding their time to become draft eligible. Hopefully this would show some kids that there is real value in an education and the degree that you can earn by going through the process of School. Obviously this would come at the expense of those that don't get a degree and don't ever get drafted into the league (but those things are happening today anyway). Do this and HAMMER schools caught for being tied to illgal benefits. No more pussy footing around.

 

[Voltaire]

Sure. But at some level the schools have to be accountable for holding up their end of the bargain. They're the ones making all the money on this.
Do this with four-year scholarships, guaranteed (maybe bump up the limit from 85 to 100 or something to make up for injuries and whatnot). Serious penalties for low graduation rates. Stop steering kids to BS majors so they only focus on football. An honest realization that few people make never-need-to-work-again money playing in the NFL and that a free college education is no small thing in this world.
f you want to save the soul of college football, you need to change the culture to be at least as much about college as it is about football.

This thought is wishful thinking for the large number of players who get scholarships because of their athletic abilities but otherwise would never have been accepted on the basis of their academic achievements / abilities. You can give a kid a dozen tutors, but if he isn't mentally capable he isn't going to finish an accounting or civil engineering degree.

 

[stlnd01]

I
Less kids would get "spit out". There are a massive amount of spit out kids from oversigning, poor graduation rates and lack of actual schooling they are getting. Those kids would have the opportunity to work on getting a minor league contract and keep their dream alive.

We are in a "semi-pro" atmosphere right now. You have to ask yourself, do you want college football to continue to become a semi pro league or do you want it to be the amatuer/education based league it was intended to be in the first place?

The track record of how NFL teams currently treat their players - many of them as disposable commodities - doesn't give me a lot of faith in how they'd treat even lower-paid, younger, more-disposable players in their minor league. Also the incidence of career-ending injuries is much higher than it is in baseball, while the career lifespan after making it to the bigs is much shorter. At least in college an injured player - or a player who realizes as a sophomore that they're never going to make millions on Sundays - has the opportunity to get an education.
I agree that college football is taking a disturbingly rapid course towards semi-pro-dom, with some of the same throw-away tendencies towards players. But I think the better solution lays in fixing college football, not in relegating it to also-ran status (like college baseball).

 

[woolybug25]

The track record of how NFL teams currently treat their players - many of them as disposable commodities - doesn't give me a lot of faith in how they'd treat even lower-paid, younger, more-disposable players in their minor league. Also the incidence of career-ending injuries is much higher than it is in baseball, while the career lifespan after making it to the bigs is much shorter. At least in college an injured player - or a player who realizes as a sophomore that they're never going to make millions on Sundays - has the opportunity to get an education.
I agree that college football is taking a disturbingly rapid course towards semi-pro-dom, with some of the same throw-away tendencies towards players. But I think the better solution lays in fixing college football, not in relegating it to also-ran status (like college baseball).

What?? What league are you following? Injured kids aren't generally staying and getting degrees after injuries. Especially in the SEC. That may be common at schools like ND, Stanford, Michigan, etc... but kids getting General Education degrees at South Carolina are getting cut and moving on to life outside of school or JuCo.

A minor league would allow NFL teams to treat their players better by allowing them to keep a manned roster while developing players on a lower level. Right now, there is a "churn and burn" atmosphere in the NFL because of limited roster space. Guys are demanded to develop quickly or get cut. This system would allow young guys the opportunity to develop in an organized, planned environment instead of getting tore up in college. Coaches in college don't manage their players in order to preserve or lengthen their pro careers. They manage them in a way to maximize their performance while they play in college.

 

[stlnd01]

What?? What league are you following? Injured kids aren't generally staying and getting degrees after injuries. Especially in the SEC. That may be common at schools like ND, Stanford, Michigan, etc... but kids getting General Education degrees at South Carolina are getting cut and moving on to life outside of school or JuCo.

And that's exactly what college football needs to fix. A four-year scholarship and an honest approach to academics - both in admissions and once they're on campus - would go a long way. Plenty of schools do that (ND, Stanford, most of the Big Ten and Pac 10 and even ACC at least try). The ones that don't, at some level they choose not to. The trouble is that the balance is tilting towards the ones that don't, and no one's stopping it.

A minor league would allow NFL teams to treat their players better by allowing them to keep a manned roster while developing players on a lower level. Right now, there is a "churn and burn" atmosphere in the NFL because of limited roster space. Guys are demanded to develop quickly or get cut. This system would allow young guys the opportunity to develop in an organized, planned environment instead of getting tore up in college.

You may be right. If the NFL handled its approach to player development the way baseball does. But that's a big if and would require some pretty major cultural changes. Aside from the stars, the NFL generally treats its players like interchangable parts. Because, frankly, most are. If roster space were the issue, you'd hear more talk about expanding rosters (52 guys is pretty tight). But you don't. Instead you hear about adding games, which will cause even more churn because even more guys will get hurt.
The NFL is about maximizing profits for the owners. The system, as-is, works pretty well for them. Fixing college ball seems easier than changing that.

 

[Irishbounty28]

This makes sense for Delaney to say, as it would benefit the Big Ten immensely. He knows that the conference this would hurt the most would be the SEC, and therefore would give them a more equal playing field.

Certain programs in the SEC would have a hard time being successful if there were an alley for kids to get into the pro game without going to college. Delaney knows that this isn't quite the way it works in his conference and would lead to more competitive play on his end.

Delaney isn't going to state anything that doesn't benefit his conference, and he knows that this option would directly benefit them. Also, he knows that if the NCAA allows pay for play they will be at an even larger disadvantage in their conference. Only Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio State would be able to compete with some SEC schools with the alumni they have.

 

[IrishLax]

Delaney is really getting to the core of the issue in a roundabout way. You've got amateur athletes with that derive all of their value from the institution they play for. Outside of a rare freak like Clowney, you're simply not going to find many players who an NFL team would use a draft pick on and stash away for development if allowed. The bigger issue though comes from the NFL mandating that players play 3 years out of high school to be eligible for the league. This forces college football to be a minor league.

The two solutions are pretty simple... one is to open up college football to be the wild west and remove restrictions on outside money via the Olympic Model. That gets rid of all of the complaining. The other solution is to get independent NCAA auditors in force to monitor classes and make sure kids are getting an education, make sure scholarships are for 4 years and cover full cost of attendance, force the NFL to remove restrictions so that players can get drafted at any time that a franchise sees fit, and raise eligibility requirements. This would force kids to be true STUDENT athletes and anyone who doesn't like it can go pro as the pro league sees fit.

The status quo doesn't work for the student athletes and the fault lies with the NCAA and NFL. Each one is only looking out for its respective best interests.

 

[Kak7304]

A whole new generation of athletes not going to college/university... oh ya, that's just what your country needs.

I rather much enjoy the system now. Maybe if these student athletes had some sort of money management, they could have a bit of spending cash for school. Because, as you know, they save quite the sum of money by not having to pay for tuition/residence/books

It wouldn't change much having a minor league because the kids that would go this route wouldn't be interested in an education anyway. So many of them do the bare minimum to retain eligibility and could care less about learning.

 

[Kak7304]

Also, if some players went the minor league route for football, it'd open up scholarship spots for student-athletes who actually want and value an education. Wouldn't this be better than forcing guys who don't want to learn to take classes? Of course, college football would lose some star power but college basketball survived without Kobe, LeBron, KG, etc. who went straight to the pros.

 

[Voltaire]

Delaney is really getting to the core of the issue in a roundabout way. You've got amateur athletes with that derive all of their value from the institution they play for. Outside of a rare freak like Clowney, you're simply not going to find many players who an NFL team would use a draft pick on and stash away for development if allowed. The bigger issue though comes from the NFL mandating that players play 3 years out of high school to be eligible for the league. This forces college football to be a minor league.

The two solutions are pretty simple... one is to open up college football to be the wild west and remove restrictions on outside money via the Olympic Model. That gets rid of all of the complaining. The other solution is to get independent NCAA auditors in force to monitor classes and make sure kids are getting an education, make sure scholarships are for 4 years and cover full cost of attendance, force the NFL to remove restrictions so that players can get drafted at any time that a franchise sees fit, and raise eligibility requirements. This would force kids to be true STUDENT athletes and anyone who doesn't like it can go pro as the pro league sees fit.

The status quo doesn't work for the student athletes and the fault lies with the NCAA and NFL. Each one is only looking out for its respective best interests.

Doesn't this make things worse? Boosters would be paying recruits / players hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars (perhaps ostensibly for a couple autographs) to attract and keep players at a certain school. That would destroy the angle a school like Notre Dame has in how they try to attract recruits because that whole 40-year decision and ROI selling angle is a whole lot less relevant if you can make substantial amounts of cash upfront. The Olympic model would just remove a couple obstacles from boosters directly paying players to play for the boosters' team of choice.

Olympic athletes and college football student-athletes are completely different in that many, if not most, Olympic athletes are competing in individual sports. Second, when it comes time to participate as part of an Olympic team, the athlete for the most part does not have a choice for which team that athlete will play since most athletes have to play for the country for which they have citizenship. This all makes it so that for Olympic athletes, the money will not determine for which team you will play, but if used in college football, it absolutely would affect where college student-athletes would choose to play.

 

[Irishbounty28]

Doesn't this make things worse? Boosters would be paying recruits / players hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars (perhaps ostensibly for a couple autographs) to attract and keep players at a certain school. That would destroy the angle a school like Notre Dame has in how they try to attract recruits because that whole 40-year decision and ROI selling angle is a whole lot less relevant if you can make substantial amounts of cash upfront. The Olympic model would just remove a couple obstacles from boosters directly paying players to play for the boosters' team of choice.

Olympic athletes and college football student-athletes are completely different in that many, if not most, Olympic athletes are competing in individual sports. Second, when it comes time to participate as part of an Olympic team, the athlete for the most part does not have a choice for which team that athlete will play since most athletes have to play for the country for which they have citizenship. This all makes it so that for Olympic athletes, the money will not determine for which team you will play, but if used in college football, it absolutely would affect where college student-athletes would choose to play.

Exactly! This would be something that schools from the SEC would love more than anything. To say that the school wouldn't "have to" control the money is one thing, but the other is knowing that the coaches would have their hands all over this.

Coaches already have relationships with boosters that support their programs, and this would only make matters worse. It would be utilized to the fullest extent by coaches because there is no way that the NCAA could control it. If this model were to come to fruition then Nebraska would be a top power again, you can guarantee it. Also, you can kiss smaller schools being competitive goodbye. They may as well quite playing football in the NCAA and join another league, because they will not be competing. Just a bad idea all around.

 

[pumpdog20]

Sure. But at some level the schools have to be accountable for holding up their end of the bargain. They're the ones making all the money on this.
Do this with four-year scholarships, guaranteed (maybe bump up the limit from 85 to 100 or something to make up for injuries and whatnot). Serious penalties for low graduation rates. Stop steering kids to BS majors so they only focus on football. An honest realization that few people make never-need-to-work-again money playing in the NFL and that a free college education is no small thing in this world.
f you want to save the soul of college football, you need to change the culture to be at least as much about college as it is about football.

Horrible idea, as it would lead to even more men's sports being eliminated due to Title IX. And as a college wrestling fan, I'm not for that at all.

 

[stlnd01]

Horrible idea, as it would lead to even more men's sports being eliminated due to Title IX. And as a college wrestling fan, I'm not for that at all.

It sucks what's happened to college wrestling. But in the alternative scenario - a football D League that attracts most of the top talent and money - lots of mens and womens sports will be eliminated, or at least their scholarships will, because schools won't be able to afford them anymore, because football revenue will dry up because it will no longer be seen as a premiere sport.
Raising the 85-man cap isn't a requirement if you go to a four-year scholarship, but it might be a reasonable trade-off to placate those schools that say it would hamper their flexibility to deal with career-ending injuries and such. That's all.

 

[kmoose]

Players being allowed to bypass college probably would help ND recruiting wise. Players that don't care about academics aren't coming here anyway.

It would hurt, as well. Clausen would never have come to ND. Floyd probably would not have, either.

Let's not confuse the issue: kids who care about academics come to ND, but mostly because they have to go somewhere. So it might as well be a good academic institution. If they had the choice of bypassing college, and making decent money (figure that the minor league guys are probably going to make upwards of $60,000 - $70,000 a year), they probably choose to go straight to the League.

 

[ND NYC]

It sucks what's happened to college wrestling. But in the alternative scenario - a football D League that attracts most of the top talent and money - lots of mens and womens sports will be eliminated, or at least their scholarships will, because schools won't be able to afford them anymore, because football revenue will dry up because it will no longer be seen as a premiere sport.Raising the 85-man cap isn't a requirement if you go to a four-year scholarship, but it might be a reasonable trade-off to placate those schools that say it would hamper their flexibility to deal with career-ending injuries and such. That's all.

i disagree.
the rabid college football fans across the country will still continue to sell out and support their teams even if their is this "D-League" run by the NFL.
in fact i would argue hardly anyone would even go to those D league games.
think about it--do you go to you favorite MLB teams AAA affiliates games? AA? single A?
of course you dont. only people that live near those places do and at charming, unfilled minor leage parks with dedicate fanns i can count on one hand.

let the NFL deal with the football mercenarys and let the universities and colleges have the true student athletes. the incoming revenue to those schools wont suffer one bit. fans root for the front of the jersey--not the back.

 

[IrishLax]

Doesn't this make things worse? Boosters would be paying recruits / players hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars (perhaps ostensibly for a couple autographs) to attract and keep players at a certain school. That would destroy the angle a school like Notre Dame has in how they try to attract recruits because that whole 40-year decision and ROI selling angle is a whole lot less relevant if you can make substantial amounts of cash upfront. The Olympic model would just remove a couple obstacles from boosters directly paying players to play for the boosters' team of choice.

Yeah, that's why I called it the wild west and said it would stop complaining. It would allow everyone to earn their fair market value per whatever the market of fans thinks is fair.

Olympic athletes and college football student-athletes are completely different in that many, if not most, Olympic athletes are competing in individual sports. Second, when it comes time to participate as part of an Olympic team, the athlete for the most part does not have a choice for which team that athlete will play since most athletes have to play for the country for which they have citizenship. This all makes it so that for Olympic athletes, the money will not determine for which team you will play, but if used in college football, it absolutely would affect where college student-athletes would choose to play.

Yeah, of course. This is why athletes like Floyd Mayweather have actual value regardless of affiliation with a team/organization but 99.9% of college football players do not. I totally agree with what you're saying. Opening it up to the Olympic model wouldn't be a solution because it's the right thing to do, it would be a solution because it would permanently stop all athletes from bitching and normalize the system across the board.

 

[BGIF]

It would hurt, as well. Clausen would never have come to ND. Floyd probably would not have, either.

Let's not confuse the issue: kids who care about academics come to ND, but mostly because they have to go somewhere. So it might as well be a good academic institution. If they had the choice of bypassing college, and making decent money (figure that the minor league guys are probably going to make upwards of $60,000 - $70,000 a year), they probably choose to go straight to the League.

They don't make half that in minor league baseball. Rookies start at $1150 prr month while 3rd year AAA gets $2700 per month IN SEASON. That's only about $8 - 18K annually.

Life in the Minor Leagues | Think Blue LA


Reggie Bush would have stayed at Southern Cal.

 

[NDWorld247]

A few thoughts:

1. Delaney's comments are spot on.

2. First, he calls out the athlete for thinking they are bigger than the institutions they play for. You think your likeness has any value if you don't play college football? Ok, don't go to college and market yourself. No one is forcing you to play college football.

3. Second, he calls out the NBA and NFL for their ridiculous age restrictions. He doesn't come out and say this directly, but that's exactly what he's doing. A lot of people are pointing their fingers at the NCAA when they should be pointed at these two leagues that somehow get away with age discrimination. The one and done rule is a joke, as is the "3 years removed from HS graduation" rule. That's not the NCAA's fault.

4. A lot of talk about a potential NFL minor league. Unless the NFL can find a way to profit from it, it's not happening. I've dealt with the NFL on a number of occasions and there's one thing that drives every decision they make...Dead Presidents. Why in the world would they change a system that works really, really well for them? Also, the NFL tried a minor league and they lost $30M+ annually --- NFL Europa. I think a better system to develop the 45+ players that get cut in training camp each year would be awesome, but, as I said above, unless the NFL can figure out a way to profit from it, it's not happening any time soon.

5. The Olympic model would be a disaster for the NCAA. It's apples (Olympics) and oranges (NCAA). There's a way to loosen the restrictions on athlete's marketing themselves, but it's not the Olympic model.

 

[kmoose]

They don't make half that in minor league baseball. Rookies start at $1150 prr month while 3rd year AAA gets $2700 per month IN SEASON. That's only about $8 - 18K annually.

Life in the Minor Leagues | Think Blue LA


Reggie Bush would have stayed at Southern Cal.

After looking up the NBA D League salaries, and the NFL Europe salaries, I would agree that I grossly overestimated the salary these guys might get. But I still think that we would find the best talent (the vast majority of 5* guys, and a good portion of the 4* guys) would end up going to this minor league, leaving colleges to pick from the dregs. Hell, Pat Dillingham would probably be a highly sought after recruit, in that system.