There have been numerous articles and blogs calling for the formation of a new subset of college football and basketball where the players get paid to play. Each article has a slightly different scenario from the mild to the radical. For the rest of my series on big time college football I am adding my voice to the choir and call for a professional football league at the ‘collegiate’ level that I am calling the NCAA Pro-League.
The following is the crux of my proposed NCAA Pro-League: teams will be able to make money and be financially viable, players will get paid and are able to prepare for the NFL and NBA, and cooperating academic institutions will have a solid relationship both financially and academically with their pro teams. The rest of the NCAA will stay the same, allowing for most of the big time hypocrisy to disappear from college sports.
The first thing to ask about an NCAA Pro-League; do any other sports at the college level need to go pro?
Baseball? No.
Soccer? No.
Ice Hockey? No.
All other sports? No.
One could discuss and debate forever which sports could form pro leagues but collegiate pro leagues should not be formed to compete with pre-existing minor league organizations. The NFL and NBA do not have viable professional minor leagues in the US like MLB, the NHL, and MLS. If a good 18 year old baseball, soccer, or hockey player wants to go pro, he could be drafted by one of the minor league teams (also called developmental) and work his way up to the pros while getting paid to play. 18 year old football and basketball players are ‘forced’ to go to college because NCAA I-A football and basketball are the minor leagues for the NFL and NBA.
Next, I will discuss the revenue criteria, the salary cap, the academics, and the effects both positive and negative of an NCAA Pro-League.
Addendum:
After I have completed my big time college football series I will look to see if an NCAA Pro-League should be formed for women’s basketball.
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