Broncos Development League

[Superchop 7]

Todays question comes from me.

Self, how would you create a developmental league ?

Well self, my view is global.....and nobody could get this thing rolling better than Tebow, it's time to strike while the iron is hot.....lets face it....the kid is global.

1) Change the rules so he can play 10 years.

2) Change the Practice Squad to 15 players per team.

3) Each developmental team is comprised of teams in a division, team London could be the AFC West guys thus creating interest at home.....these are "our" guys. 4 teams per division equals 60 player teams. Fan interest back home is whats going to pay for this thing. (TV revenue) Having teams comprised of guys scattered across the league.....no interest back home.

4) Have no problem using gimmicks like music concerts to get people in.

5) Do it right, build small stadiums to get an NFL feel, have a hotel onsite. (50 mil per team is not much money NFL-wise)

6) Do it global.

7) Since travel will suck, a player playing on Sunday must play the following Wednesday and visa versa....10 days between games.

8) Start play the week after the Super Bowl. (once again....keeping Americans involved)

9) A local Rugby player must be on the field at all times. (local interest)

[shank]

restless fingers syndrome

[TXBRONC]

Ok but it doesn't sound realistic.

[Joel]

Not unless the NFL just dumps money into it perpetually, which they won't; been there, done that. They make $9 billion/year now without operating a dozen or more teams each losing millions/year just so one of those hundreds of draft rejects can prove himself the next Kurt Warner. The owners don't need another Kurt Warner, and they're not going to spend a few hundred million dollars a year to get one.


Todays question comes from me.

Self, how would you create a developmental league ?

Well self, my view is global.....and nobody could get this thing rolling better than Tebow, it's time to strike while the iron is hot.....lets face it....the kid is global.

1) Change the rules so he can play 10 years.
Is he really global? Outside the US and the Philippines I thought 95% of the world had never heard of him.


2) Change the Practice Squad to 15 players per team.

3) Each developmental team is comprised of teams in a division, team London could be the AFC West guys thus creating interest at home.....these are "our" guys. 4 teams per division equals 60 player teams. Fan interest back home is whats going to pay for this thing. (TV revenue) Having teams comprised of guys scattered across the league.....no interest back home.

4) Have no problem using gimmicks like music concerts to get people in.

5) Do it right, build small stadiums to get an NFL feel, have a hotel onsite. (50 mil per team is not much money NFL-wise)

6) Do it global.

7) Since travel will suck, a player playing on Sunday must play the following Wednesday and visa versa....10 days between games.

8) Start play the week after the Super Bowl. (once again....keeping Americans involved)

9) A local Rugby player must be on the field at all times. (local interest)
I like the idea of a link to NFL teams, but, again, a purely developmental team for American players is a guaranteed bust already tried and failed. "A local rugby player must be on the field at all times" is just "each team must have one local player, but we won't just let you grab the first soccer player you find and make him the kicker anymore."

No one will pay to see foreigners play a foreign game badly, knowing anyone who DOES turn out to be decent will drop them like a bad habit as soon as an NFL team shows any interest.

That really is the bottom line, because the bottom line is all that matters to the owners. If it can't make money they won't do it, especially if it's a mortal lock to LOSE them millions of dollars/year on a dozen or more teams. They have to be able to merchandise it to the hilt like the in US; not only tickets, but broadcast rights, jerseys, bobbleheads, mugs, videogames: The works. No one is going to shell out all that money or watch all those games without a strong connection to the team, and foreign players playing a foreign game badly only to bolt if one of them proves good makes that connection impossible.

Walk into an NFL owners office and say, "Even though you guys clear $9 billion/year, you should start a dozen European teams that'll run $100-200 million every year, just so 500 guys who aren't even good enough to be UDFAs have a chance to produce one or two who are the next Kurt Warners." Know what they'll say? "Been there, done that; we're making a lot more money without the next Kurt Warner."

If you want to go international you're gonna have to do it for real, not just give Americans frequent flyer miles. Do that and there's plenty of stadiums, athletes and fanbases, and instead of using guys who weren't even good enough to be UDFA you'll have a half billion people worth of untapped football talent to scour for future stars. Travel is far less of an issue if restricted to Europe (and that's the only place that has wealth anywhere near Americas) because unless they start playing NFL teams every team only be an hour or two apart by plane.

American fans won't pay to see foreign football—but foreign fans won't pay to see American football either. Do it like WLAF, with all American players plus the token European player, and it'll end the same way: A shortlived financial disaster. Give the Björn Werners and Margus Hunts a chance to earn a few hundred thousand dollars a year playing football in their own back yards instead of putting shot and they'll take it, to the betterment of both football and, ultimately, the NFL. It would be nice to say, "Denver is World Champion!" without getting snickers everywhere but the US.

Any more it's hard to tell if threads like these are posted in good faith, but I'm responding on that basis because I think it's a worthwhile endeavor. Just not as a farm league, but as truly international football.

[Simple Jaded]

The NFL has a development league, it's called "college". Who (besides Joel) gives a **** if people outside the USA snicker?

[Lancane]

The NFL has a development league, it's called "college". Who (besides Joel) gives a **** if people outside the USA snicker?

I don't care if people outside the US Snicker Jade, but the NFL will expand eventually on a broader plane...we know the league is pushing for a team in London, even more so then in Los Angeles to be honest. And as I have said there is a lot of talent in Europe, I don't believe the NFL will create a farm league, but I would like to see them look at bringing in more talent, if they really wanted to farm undeveloped talent, then I am sure the NFL could work a deal out with the CFL and UFL to take a number of kids and help develop them while boosting the talent of their respective leagues. However, I read a blog the other day written by an old football buddy of mine in which he stated he'd like to see more European and Asian athletes in those regions to get noticed by the NFL because as he stated, there is not a professional league beyond the NFL that can truly equate their talents into a career. His idea was to have the equivalent of the Senior Bowl/North South Game played in Hawaii, after a week of practice and the game, the top twenty to thirty according to a consensus of scouts and coaches would be then given invites to the NFL Combine. I know the idea won't appease everyone, but in terms of showing that there is talent to be had, it is a smart and safe bet. We're seeing more and more foreigners coming to the US to go to College and eventually playing in the NFL, there were a good fifteen in this years draft, drafted in the top four rounds that were not natives of this country, which argues to the point that there is talent outside the country that can bolster the level of talent at the NFL level. If only five of those twenty or thirty develop into long-term professional players on a yearly basis, then the effort is worth continuing.

[Simple Jaded]

Exactly, if these players want to be a part of the NFL they'll go the same route as everyone else, nobody is stopping them. Until foreigners establish themselves in the NFL I think a farm league is the best they can hope for. Either way they'll do it on the NFL's terms, whether they like it or not.

[Joel]

Squeezing more foreign talent into the US market won't make the owners any more money, and that's what's driving this. There just aren't any lucrative places left to go, basically just L.A., MAYBE Vegas or San Antone. I again cite the Jags: After 20 years they STILL aren't making a profit; if it weren't for profit sharing they couldn't even afford a ball.

$16 trilliion in Europes GDP: THAT'S what the owners want, not to make already quite profitable teams more talented, which is secondary (at best.) Most of that cash is concentrated in about half a dozen nations, too, an easy target—but only if they give the people who have the money a reason to spend it on football. Watching bad foreigners play a foreign game badly hoping to leave for the NFL provides no such reason.

If it's just about prospecting for more talent in unexploited foreign populations, Lans idea is the most practical one. Creating a bunch of unprofitable teams just to find two or three mediocre new US player/year won't do it, especially when there are already 32 practice squads and 8 CFL rosters for those players. Dramatically raising profits requires European teams that are just that, and they're coming.

[Superchop 7]

I could not disagree more.

The number 1 goal of Goodell and the owners is global expansion.

We already know what they want, more kicking, less game interruptions, a rugby presence on the field, and very sexy cheerleaders.

Half the problem was the stadiums they were in.....did not feel close to the action.

Losing money will not happen under my plan, why? Once people back home have interest....and they will as long as they keep the players to a division and not have scattered teams.....TV contracts come for the right to broadcast the game.....all of a sudden.....developmental league makes money.

Would you watch the AFC West practice squad members go against the AFC East Practice squad players ? I would, does not matter what city they play in. Trust me.....there is a niche with hardcore fans.

Tim Tebow is the most influential athlete in all of Sports according to Forbes, they know a thing or two.

If I am Goodell, I put Tebow on the NFL payroll right now to sell this league until February, then he can play.

More interest from home, fans get to call some plays.

More interest from home, fans get to pick the additional 5 PS members in November. Trust me, when the Broncos picked up Anthony Alridge and Brandon Browner.....(my guys)......I was glued to their careers.

How many people in Florida want to see Tebow play?......think about it......buzz....buzzz...buzzzz

How many fans of Tebow would love the NFL for hiring him ? We could turn alot of upset folks back in the right direction.

Remember media, I "want" you to take my thoughts and run with them, I'm not in the business.

[Simple Jaded]

Wait til the first John Elway or Eli Manning are forced to choose between holding out or another sport and moving to ******* England, or Germany. I can see a massive decline in interest from the black athlete too, but hey, just as long as Joel is happy.

[Lancane]

Don't get me wrong Jaded, Joel... despite our many disagreements in the past is not wrong about the NFL and it's owner's looking hard at the European GDP or that in other regions such as Japan, China, Australia, South Africa, South America, pretty much anywhere where there could be a fiscal gain. I know that the NFL is as American as Apple Pie, the same was said of baseball, but it's now an international sport and not simply America's Past Time. Soccer was never as popular as it has become in the US as it has become in the last two decades. The NFL can easily be seen as a global product which would bring a large financial profit to the country and more international influence in regards to the US. The highest Grossing Sporting Event in the World is the Super Bowl, about $420 Million in gross earnings, followed by the Olympic Games $230 Million, FIFA World Cup $120 Million and UEFA European Football Championship $110 Million, an international fiscal gross of $460 million combined to our highest grossing major sporting event, the MLB World Series earns about $106 Million, Daytona about $100 Million, the NBA and NHL Championship isn't even in the Top 10 and both earn less then the Kentucky Derby, I shit you not. Do you believe that International Soccer could really compete with American Football?

And despite the national pride that many of us have, I don't see Congress or the Senate blocking an expansion as such, because that is what it would have to be, with the possibility of such high international gross for the United States. Do you really see the NFL stopping with London? This year there will be three international games, the Bills vs Atlanta in Toronto and two games in London, Minnesota vs Pittsburgh and Jacksonville vs San Francisco. Make no mistake Jaded, if the NFL doesn't go global, we'll start seeing more and more games played far from our home stadiums. The NFL has had games in London, Berlin, Mexico City, Tokyo, etc. in fact the NFL has had a total of 10 games played in England, 16 in Canada, 14 in Japan, 8 in Mexico, 1 in Australia, 1 in Sweden, 1 in Ireland, 2 in Spain and 5 in Germany. Still want to deny it's going to happen?

There has been chatter for the past decade about the NFL purchasing the CFL, don't you find it ironic that the NFL is now talking about adopting exact dimensions in regards to the football fields of the Canadian Football League? That more and more Canadian players have come to the NFL, look at Franklin and Burke. Whether you like it or not, unless America becomes a third-world nation, the NFL is and will expand beyond US soil.

[Superchop 7]

There are over 750,000 international students in the U.S.

Each one of them is exposed to the NFL.

IMO, the time is ripe to do this, Tebow makes it very marketable.

[Lancane]

There are over 750,000 international students in the U.S.

Each one of them is exposed to the NFL.

IMO, the time is ripe to do this, Tebow makes it very marketable.

Tebow doesn't make it marketable, the league is what makes it marketable. The Muslim religion has climbed steadily in many regions where football would be popular, his Christian devoutness could turn people off and away from the idea. No, it's marketable on it's own, and the NFL nor any organization owes him, he couldn't adapt or evolve to fit the criteria to be an NFL quarterback.

[Superchop 7]

Tell that to Forbes.

[Superchop 7]

http://youtu.be/mfJtDeve89M

[Superchop 7]

At the end of the day.....

People respect others with good moral character. (Broncos Country became what it is because of the character of those in the early days)

No matter the religion.

But thats the common mans view.

It doesn't sell papers.

But it sure as hell sells tickets.

[Superchop 7]

Pedro Cerrano: Bats, they are sick. I cannot hit curveball. Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come.

Eddie Harris: You know you might think about taking Jesus Christ as your savior instead of fooling around with all this stuff.

Roger Dorn: Shit, Harris.

Pedro Cerrano: Jesus, I like him very much, but he no help with curveball.

Eddie Harris: You trying to say Jesus Christ can't hit a curveball?

[SR]

This thread is ******* dumb.

[Simple Jaded]

I sincerely hope I'm dead before the NFL becomes the CFL.

[Superchop 7]

Thank you so much for nada.