Don Yee proposes Pacific Pro league

Tom Brady's agent Don Yee bucks against football system and NCAA with Pacific Pro league

At the NFL Draft, virtually all players selected come from college football programs.

Within two years, that may change.

A disruptive new professional football league, a corporate football factory that will pay players straight out of high school and build them up mentally and physically for an NFL career, is on the verge of launching. And when Pacific Pro Football hits the field next summer, it may not only put NCAA football as we know it on a path to extinction, but also change the face of professional sports forever.

The league is the brainchild of Don Yee, the sports agent who is best known for his work representing Tom Brady. Yee has spent a lifetime advocating for the rights of athletes. For many years, he's been critical of the NCAA amateur-athlete structure, he's advanced revolutionary ideas about how to better manage big-time college athletics, and in 2010, he penned an op-ed in the Washington Post in which he called for the NCAA to pay student-athletes once and for all.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/don-yee-bucks-system-ncaa-pacific-pro-football-article-1.3201543

How the hell are they going to pay them? No one will watch this.

Come out of hs for a few thousand bucks and risk getting killed because we can't pay coaches either or get an education and make millions.

This will fail at record speed.

.

just bring back the XFL already.

Originally posted by frozen49er:
How the hell are they going to pay them? No one will watch this.

Come out of hs for a few thousand bucks and risk getting killed because we can't pay coaches either or get an education and make millions.

This will fail at record speed.

All of this.

Originally posted by lamontb:

All of this.

You guys dont have much business vision do you?

First you start the league concept which he has done. Then you need to find team owners like any other sport would do.

The owners then get sponsors which shouldn't be very hard at first.

The ultimate goal would obviously be getting this league on television. If that happens let the flood gates of cash open.

Originally posted by frozen49er:

How the hell are they going to pay them? No one will watch this.

Come out of hs for a few thousand bucks and risk getting killed because we can't pay coaches either or get an education and make millions.

This will fail at record speed.

Yeah I don't think I'd ever watch a semi-pro football development league that isn't tied to college

Without viewers it's hard to see them generate enough revenue to compete

My quick math is it will take $5 million per year at least per team and that's not including cost of facilities

In theory I guess it could work once established but managing coach salaries and facilities is the big issue

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:

Yeah I don't think I'd ever watch a semi-pro football development league that isn't tied to college

Without viewers it's hard to see them generate enough revenue to compete

Im not so sure the NFL owners wouldn't jump on this. Its a young talent pool. Baseball has been doing it forever.

Football isn't made for minor league sports. How many leagues are going to fail before people catch on? Who the Hell wants to watch a bunch of 18-22 year old semi pro players?

Originally posted by tjd808185:

Football isn't made for minor league sports. How many leagues are going to fail before people catch on? Who the Hell wants to watch a bunch of 18-22 year old semi pro players?

Talent would change that... If you could consistently get top national recruits heading for this league it could be fun to watch.

I have watched some high school all star games and they were pretty entertaining.

Originally posted by JBrack:
Talent would change that... If you could consistently get top national recruits heading for this league it could be fun to watch.

I have watched some high school all star games and they were pretty entertaining.

If you're giving up college for 300-500 bucks a game it's safe to say you already suck at life. They're only going to get the screw ups. It's not going to work not on any level.

Originally posted by tjd808185:

If you're giving up college for 300-500 bucks a game it's safe to say you already suck at life. They're only going to get the screw ups. It's not going to work not on any level.

Players will earn an average salary of $50,000 for the summer, complete with benefits. They will also be eligible for worker's compensation packages and lifetime benefits in the event they suffer a career-ending injury, which is just one of several elements Yee wants in place to protect his athletes.

By comparison, if a college football player suffers a career-ending injury, he will likely lose his scholarship, which is really just a one-year contract with a school anyway, and essentially be out on his own.

Originally posted by JBrack:
Players will earn an average salary of $50,000 for the summer, complete with benefits. They will also be eligible for worker's compensation packages and lifetime benefits in the event they suffer a career-ending injury, which is just one of several elements Yee wants in place to protect his athletes.

By comparison, if a college football player suffers a career-ending injury, he will likely lose his scholarship, which is really just a one-year contract with a school anyway, and essentially be out on his own.

And what happens if the league belly flops in a year? Those guys are sitting at home waiting twiddling their fingers. Just p*ssed away millions in draft slotting. And the 50k seems very unrealistic compared to other minor leagues. IFL pays 32k to a 25 man roster. AFL pays 50k but to a 20 man roster. Does he know that just because college football draws 100k doesn't mean they will. It's minor league and they'll be lucky to draw 6k a game.

Originally posted by JBrack:
Talent would change that... If you could consistently get top national recruits heading for this league it could be fun to watch.

I have watched some high school all star games and they were pretty entertaining.

lol, sorry but you are pretty weird if you watch high school all star football game and don't have a relative in it. That's definitely a very small niche of people that interested in seeing top level prospects.

And no top-level recruit is joining this league, its way too much risk and unknown. This league will be made up of kids that either got kicked out of school, flunked out, or couldn't get a D1 scholarship.

Originally posted by JBrack:
Players will earn an average salary of $50,000 for the summer, complete with benefits. They will also be eligible for worker's compensation packages and lifetime benefits in the event they suffer a career-ending injury, which is just one of several elements Yee wants in place to protect his athletes.

By comparison, if a college football player suffers a career-ending injury, he will likely lose his scholarship, which is really just a one-year contract with a school anyway, and essentially be out on his own.

Do you believe everything a marketer tells you? Do the math, a team would need $5 million plus in revenue to stay afloat if they are paying the kids that much money.

If you been reading up on minor league baseball lawsuits, you'd be aware its a major issue. Their salaries are declining and on average they make $3k-$7.5k and thats from teams that have been geographically established for decades. http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/03/minor-leaguers-working-poor-lawsuit-mlb-bud-selig

Paying a roster of 70+ players each $50k plus excellent benefits on top of providing facilities, training staff, medical staff, support staff, and coaches is extremely expensive.

I hope this dude has a hundred million+ in investments to keep the league afloat long enough for it stick, otherwise what he is really doing is screwing any kid gullible to sign up for the league and depriving them of the chance to get a college scholarship and education.

I really dont understand why the "pay the college player" crowd underestimates a scholarship. We live in a time where most kids are going into serious debt in order to get a college degree, yet the degree is treated like a party favor even though the vast majority of players will never play pro, and if they do they wont play for long, and if they do play long they still face extremely high rates of financial ruin several years out of the league. Getting the players paid instead of educated is short-changing them in the long run for the vast majority of kids.

Ok for kids who are really serious about earning their degree -- they'll play in college especially if the school that granted them a scholarship is big time. Otherwise, if a kid gets paid $100k over 2 years, if he's smart about his money, if the league goes belly up, and is not drafted by the NFL will be able to pay for his college in full (depending on college).