Chiefnj2
10-24-2009, 07:50 AM
Personally, I don't think it's wrong for the college teams to want to get paid for their tapes, especially when the tapes are used for NFL network and other entertainment shows.
Draft preparation gets a lot more complicated
Posted by Mike Florio on October 23, 2009 11:20 PM ET
In his lawsuit challenging the NFL's rule blocking players less than three years out of high school from entering the draft, running back Maurice Clarett claimed that college football is a free farm system for the professional version of the sport.
If a collection of college football programs has its way, a certain aspect of the NFL farm system won't be free at all.
According to Don Banks of SI.com, a group of 11 college conferences has attempted, through a group known as XOS Technologies, to impose a significant fee for the use of coaching tape -- the all-22 end zone camera view -- by the NFL.
From the invention of video images through last year, college programs charged nothing for these tapes. Per Banks, the conferences requested $20 million to $30 million in rights fees for the images.
Seriously.
The league has refused to pay a dime. As a result, the league doesn't have access to the video.
One significant consequence relates to the entry of underclassmen into the draft. The league provides juniors with an assessment of their potential draft standing. Without the video, the process becomes much more difficult.
And though more than 250 players will still be drafted and others will get a chance to make teams as undrafted free agents, the best players as demonstrated by the video will potentially suffer as colleges that already are making millions from players who aren't getting paid try to make even more money that won't be given to the players.
"XOS convinced the A.D.'s that these tapes were worth something, and I almost think we [the NFL] are partially to blame,'' an NFL personnel exec told Banks. "Because when you see these NFL coaches' tapes on . . . NFL Network and ESPN, they're not being used just for scouting, they're being used for entertainment too. And that probably gave them the idea that they have value."
The tapes have value. The value is that they help the players get jobs, and it's shameful in our view for the universities to indirectly harm the interests of the players who fuel the financial engine of college football with compensation that already pales in comparison to the revenue they generate.
Draft preparation gets a lot more complicated
Posted by Mike Florio on October 23, 2009 11:20 PM ET
In his lawsuit challenging the NFL's rule blocking players less than three years out of high school from entering the draft, running back Maurice Clarett claimed that college football is a free farm system for the professional version of the sport.
If a collection of college football programs has its way, a certain aspect of the NFL farm system won't be free at all.
According to Don Banks of SI.com, a group of 11 college conferences has attempted, through a group known as XOS Technologies, to impose a significant fee for the use of coaching tape -- the all-22 end zone camera view -- by the NFL.
From the invention of video images through last year, college programs charged nothing for these tapes. Per Banks, the conferences requested $20 million to $30 million in rights fees for the images.
Seriously.
The league has refused to pay a dime. As a result, the league doesn't have access to the video.
One significant consequence relates to the entry of underclassmen into the draft. The league provides juniors with an assessment of their potential draft standing. Without the video, the process becomes much more difficult.
And though more than 250 players will still be drafted and others will get a chance to make teams as undrafted free agents, the best players as demonstrated by the video will potentially suffer as colleges that already are making millions from players who aren't getting paid try to make even more money that won't be given to the players.
"XOS convinced the A.D.'s that these tapes were worth something, and I almost think we [the NFL] are partially to blame,'' an NFL personnel exec told Banks. "Because when you see these NFL coaches' tapes on . . . NFL Network and ESPN, they're not being used just for scouting, they're being used for entertainment too. And that probably gave them the idea that they have value."
The tapes have value. The value is that they help the players get jobs, and it's shameful in our view for the universities to indirectly harm the interests of the players who fuel the financial engine of college football with compensation that already pales in comparison to the revenue they generate.