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A proper NFL Development League


pf9

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For decades, all the other major sports leagues have had proper development leagues where each of the major league franchises has at least one farm team in a lower-level league.

The NFL should start thinking about launching such a league. It would give younger players a chance to hone their skills more and give players who failed previously a second chance.

Here are some ideas for where each NFL team's development league affiliate could go:

American Football Conference

East
Hartford (New England)
New Haven (NY Jets)
Orlando (Miami)
Syracuse (Buffalo)

North
Annapolis (Baltimore)
Columbus (Cleveland)
Louisville (Cincinnati)
State College (Pittsburgh)

South
College Station (Houston)
Memphis (Tennessee)
South Bend (Indianapolis)
Tallahassee (Jacksonville)

West
Colorado Springs (Denver)
Lincoln (Kansas City)
Reno (Las Vegas)
San Diego (LA Chargers)

National Football Conference

East
Charlottesville (Washington)
Fort Worth (Dallas)
New Brunswick (NY Giants)
Philadelphia (at Franklin Field) (Philadelphia)

North
Champaign (Chicago)
Lansing (Detroit)
Madison (Green Bay)
Minneapolis (at TCF Bank Stadium) (Minnesota)

South
Baton Rouge (New Orleans)
Birmingham (Atlanta)
Columbia (Carolina)
Gainesville (Tampa Bay)

West
Berkeley (San Francisco)
Eugene (Seattle)
Fresno (LA Rams)
Tucson (Arizona)

Many of these cities host a college football team. Most of these games would be played on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to avoid competing with the parent league on Thursday, Sunday and Monday, HS football on Friday, and CFB on Saturday.

These exact cities wouldn't have to be used, but it gives an idea on where the farm teams could possibly play.

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The NFL has tried developmental leagues before, it has tried endorsing smaller leagues. The NFL should let leagues like the XFL and CFL develop their own players and grow on their own, and maybe try to put funding into the international game, e.g. Mexico and Japan, markets like that where the game has potential to grow exponentially. The CFL is doing it right now they're even sending practice squad players to places like Finland and Mexico lol

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The NFL had a developmental League in Europe. It failed because at that time the TV networks didn't show any interest and the owners considered 1 M$ annually per team too much. At least the TV situation has changed significantly. In Germany three games a week are broadcast throughout the regular season - plus all playoff games. The UK and France have developped a market as well.

Thus I think if the NFL wishes to expand internationally - Europe may be a place to go. I think we're ready.

One issue may be the synchronisation of a farm league and the NFL proper to allow players to switch from one to the other. I don't think you can run both in parallel. It's diferent to the MBL as playbooks etc. will differ sigificantly. So you probably have to run it as a spring league.

The XFL may be the closest thing to such a farm league - we will see whether it will be sustainable and can grow into something. I think there is a chance affter the AAF's initial success. As of now I don't think there's room for a third league in North America.

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13 hours ago, Dome said:

A 32 team d-league is far too big IMO... product would be bad, or at the least very imbalanced 

counterpoint.

if they use the same stupid cities, im gonna get bored.

i have already tuned the xfl out

put a team in wisconsin, wyoming, or montana and maybe i come back

#****thevipers

Edited by Malfatron
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