Originally Posted by Dante84
Seriously, circling back - why hasn't the NFL set up a true minor/developmental league? I know they scrapped NFL Europe, but that always seemed half-assed, and the world was different then.
Imagine if there were 32 international minor teams, populated with "not major leaguers" in 8 divisions:
UK/Irish Division [London, Dublin, Birmingham, Glasgow]
German Division [Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt]
Rest of Europe Division [Madrid, Rome, Paris, Barcelona]
Oceania Division [Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland]
Asian Division [Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, Manila]
Latin American Division [Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Rio De Janiero, Buenos Aires]
African Division [Cairo, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Nairobi]
US Division [Salt Lake City, Portland, Central TX (ATX/SA), Omaha]
- Each program would be assigned to an NFL team, and could even rotate cities every 2 years to get each team more global exposure.
- Expand the NFL Draft to 14 rounds, where the last day of the draft is 7 rounds, lightning fast
- Each team participates in training camp, and after final cutdowns, teams could pick keepers and then have a minor league re-draft.
- Division games played for the first 8 weeks, then travel to the other division cities the other weeks, rotate home and away.
Pros
- Exposes the rest of the world to American Football, increasing eyeballs and merch sales.
- Allows mid-level players the ability to continue playing if they don't make the big leagues.
- Helps develop young talent, and widens the future talent pool once youth leagues pop up globally. This would also help the NCAA with international talent.
Cons
- Cost of doing business
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