So far I have focused on the money part of big time college football and the formation of my proposed NCAA Pro-League. Next, I will look at eligibility and the higher education aspects of this professional collegiate-level league.
Players will have four years of eligibility in the NCAA Pro-League; there will be no ‘redshirting’ since players will be paid to play. Age eligibility will be 18 to 30 with some exceptions depending on the situation (on the high end, not low). Being on the practice squad will count as part of the four years of eligibility. A high school diploma or GED will be required.
The logic of continuing to have four years of eligibility in the NCAA Pro-League is to limit the duration athletes stay in the league. Like the current system, athletes put in their four years and move on. If there was no limit to how many years a player could play in the NCAA Pro-League it would become the NFL on Saturday with players playing their entire careers at the University of Georgia.
Next, every player who signs a contract for one of the NCAA Pro-League teams will have the option to enroll part-time at the cooperating or an affiliated institutions. Why part-time? Because the current system of academics works for athletes like Robert Griffin III and his reported academic prowess but the majority of athletes struggle to keep up with their studies while playing big time college football. For those who want to attend college part-time there would be no GPA minimum; you do not want to penalize those who actually want to get an education while playing for big time programs. Ideally, players would take online courses in the fall and take brick and mortar courses during the spring of summer (for the obvious reasons). For those institutions who do not join the Pro-League; nothing would change concerning academic requirements.
The majority of athletes who would sign NCAA Pro-League contracts would be young adults; between 18-24. In the span of four short months these players would go from graduating high school to making more money than their parents. Because of this there would be two mandatory requirements during each year of eligibility; financial planning and a college savings account.
Mandatory financial planning. Each player would be required to take six-credits of financial planning each year or two, three-credit courses. These courses would range from money basics in year one to how to successfully protect and invest your money in the NFL in year four. The idea is to help these young adults successfully manage their money rather than blowing it during their four years of eligibility. At the end of the four years of eligibility, a player could have up to 24 credits of finance/accounting/financial planning credits that could be used when getting their college degree. These credits could be realized by the cooperating institution recognizing those credits, CLEP, competency based credits, et cetera.
Mandatory college savings account. Each player will be required to set-up a college savings account. Like a 401k, Pro-League athletes will be required to save for college so if they complete four years of eligibility and do not make the NFL, they will have money to attend college. Ideally it would be set-up like a 401k where the teams would match the players savings up to a certain percentage. Example: if a player makes $200,000 a years for four-years and saves 10% of his income with the team matching 3% and the market returning 4%, this player will have around $95,000 in their college savings account. If they do not make the NFL and use it for college at the University of Georgia most if not all of their costs would be covered and they would graduate debt free. If they do make the NFL or do not want to use it for college they can cash it out with a penalty.
Finally, the academics at the cooperating institutions. Again, using University of Georgia as the example, the only thing the president would have to worry about every year would be signing a contract with the NCAA Pro-League team(s). After the university decides on how much it will cost the football team to use the name of the institution and facilities (stadium, et cetera), the president would be able to focus on higher education issue because football operations would be outside the university. With that said if Georgia wins the national championship the president can still attend and relish in the accomplishment with the whole country watching and the University of Georgia brand being broadcasted everywhere, especially ESPN. But if a scandal broke-out it would be handled by the CEO of the University of Georgia Pro-League football team, not the president of the university.
To summarize; the NCAA Pro-League allows allows players at big time college football programs to do what they are already doing, play football and try to make the NFL. It also allows them to get paid to play, attend college part-time during their eligibility, and requires them to learn about financial planning and save money for future college attendance.Finally, it allows colleges and universities to be in the business of educating adults while divesting themselves of the day to day operations of big time college football.
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