One of the start-up professional football leagues, the Alliance of American Football, has announced that signing kids who aren’t yet eligible for the NFL is off the table.
One thing the AAF will not do is bring in college freshmen or sophomores who are not yet eligible for the NFL draft. McKay said he doesn’t think players are ready for pro football until they’re three years out of high school.
“From a health and safety standpoint, we’re concerned about the idea of having a kid come sooner than that,” McKay said.
Eh, maybe. Although I think we can all point to examples of exceptions.
I suspect this is more about not pissing schools off. After all, read what the AAF’s marketing strategy is all about:
J.K. McKay, head of football operations for the AAF, told PFT that the AAF’s top priority in stocking the rosters for its teams will be to keep players who played their college football near the AAF’s eight cities close to home.
“You want to keep local kids home when you can,” McKay said. “It creates fan interest. Our Birmingham team will have Alabama and Auburn, and that will draw some fan interest.”
The AAF will have teams in Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Orlando, Tempe, Salt Lake City, San Antonio and San Diego. For players who didn’t go to college near any of those cities, they’ll be allocated to AAF teams based on the last NFL roster they were on. Previous rival leagues, including the USFL and XFL, have taken a similar approach.
“It just makes sense,” McKay said. “You’re bringing in guys people know. From a marketing standpoint it’s good, it allows players to stay home. Other leagues have done it and we’re absolutely committed to it and excited about it.”
Creating a hostile relationship with the source of your product isn’t a smart way to go. Of course, that assumes schools won’t take kindly to having their talent raided on a steady basis. Maybe some of you in the “kids have options” camp disagree about that, but, then again, you’re not a coach paid to win football games.
Get The Picture 
Retread Football Fever. Catch it!
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If the league is successful, I.e. doesn’t go bankrupt, I think there are several things that will be interesting to see. Clearly, the league could rub regional schools the wrong way. Another thing I will be interested in is the salaries of players. I don’t think we will see a UFL Trump HW situation nor do I think we will see paltry XFL salaries. Having said that, I am curious as to how close salaries will be to the cost of attendance stipends schools offer and how much they increase in future years.
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Per the article, the base deal in the AAF will be a three-year, $250,000 contract.
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Per you lazy reader, I should have read the article…
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That seems really high.
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Minor league football … I don’t watch the NFL. No way I watch this.
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As I understand it the nfl’s initial eligibility standard is part of a collective bargaining agreement. This on the other hand seems like a one sided choice by the league. Does that change the legal viability of the policy? Can some HS kid sue his way in?
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I guess he could, but I assume this would be employment at will. The job description could say minimum of 3 years of college experience required. Even if the kid sued and won, he still would have to get hired by a team. I’m not sure age discrimination covers younger potential workers, so I doubt there’s a case.
I’m not a labor lawyer, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.
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Obviously you don’t need three years of college to play football. It’s a stretch to say that these kids would be safer in a sec contest than an AAF contest. Other than purposefully choosing not to compete with the colleges for players there doesn’t seem to be any basis here for not signing a kid: who isn’t acdemicallly eligible to enter college or who was sent packing.
It just seems to me that those kids who need money now and don’t care about or qualify for college are going to be knocking if this league has any sustained viability.
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I don’t disagree. They could sue the league to gain access similar to what Maurice Clarett did.
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If a high school team sued the issue for the courts would be whether the age requirement is a bona fide job qualification based upon an objective nessary characteristic. The league would argue that teenagers generally have not physically matured enough, and the court would hear and evaluate evidence on that issue. I do not think that the existence of a single kid who has matured sufficiently to play defeats the rule. I think that the player would have to show that a typical high schooler was mature enough.
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I didn’t mean a current HS player. I mean a college age kid who last attended HS or got booted out of college before three years. The types of kids I’m thinking about are Tray Blackmon or Jonathan Taylor.
I think you’d have a hard time convincing me that a kid is safer in an Alabama/Auburn game than a Misfit Island game of retreads and rejects.
Then of course you have the problem of you’re old enough to fight and die for your country but not to get paid to play ball?
In my view the collective bargaining agreement insulated the nfl where this won’t. When you have labor endorsing the restriction, it’s one thing. When it’s done unilaterally by the league I think it’s on thin ice.
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Tried and failed http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52299-2004May24.html
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J.K. McKay understands the marketing value of an Atlanta team signing local (UGA) players.
Too bad his brother doesn’t understand.
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50 players @ 250k each minimum? Plus a facility, staffing, hosting, travel, etc. Call it 40 million a year break even each team. 320m break even for the league. Eight teams so they play each other twice I’m guessing, with a championship. Roughly 2 million dollars per game. Before I get chastised for being off the topic of the post, I’m thinking of the viability of the league and if it will be around long enough to matter who they let play and I think this may be legit considering the appetite for football.
Set the minimum tryout age at 21. They’ll easily have enough talent to fill rosters with good quality players and yes, it protects kids not mature enough to play with the big boys. I’ll tune in to watch the “scrubs” play a couple of times. This could actually be fun ……..
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I read the contract numbers as $250K over 3 years, so just over $80K annually per player. So cut your player cost by a third.
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Sorry, by two thirds.
If I wanted to learn math, I’d have gone to NATS…
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I read it as 250k per year three year minimum. If I understood it wrong then my answer is even more viable.
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You mean I may see a professional Atlanta football team sign and play more than 1 UGA player a season in my lifetime? Welcome to the future, indeed…
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If they were smart they’d offer a minimum 30k a year, draft kids out of high school not college, sign free agents out of college and pro rejects, and put an entertaining product on the field for not so much money. That’s how you get your foot in the door.
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I still wouldn’t watch. This league is going to end up in the same place every league has … defunct within 5 years
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I don’t know, EE. It has a “North Dallas 40” kind of feel for me. Rchris has it right above with the exception of drafting out of High School. Seriously, the difference in an 18 year old and a 22 year old is pronounced, all of us old farts know that.
Grass roots, local football played with grown ups? Why not give ’em a shot?
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I don’t mind giving them a shot, GC. I wouldn’t be a financial investor in said venture because I personally wouldn’t be a consumer. I don’t see where the business model is different from the WFL, the USFL, NFL Europe, the XFL, and the Arena League. I think the Arena League is the only one to survive because it’s a completely different game.
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You mean me spend MY money on it. That’s a different animal altogether. I mean I’ll give them a shot from section HD. The only revenue they could possibly generate from me is whatever my viewing counts in the ratings.
Unless the liquor store down the street sponsors them, of course ………
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I can only see me watching it if I truly had nothing else better to do … I may even watch an NBA game before I watch this.
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Here’s hoping a 40 year old He Hate Me can make a return.
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Is Dan Kitna going to be one of the QBs?
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As far as American football at large is concerned, I’m starting to get that same feeling I got during the final season of “The Dukes of Hazzard.” [sigh]
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