I was driving around today and caught an interview with Ed McCaffrey (former NFL receiver, current Broncos radio analyst, and Christian McCaffrey's dad) on 760 AM here in Denver about his involvement as an investor in a new professional football league. It is going to be known as the Pacific Pro Football League working under the brand PacPro Football. The league is the idea of football agent Don Yee, who represents Tom Brady among others. Some of the other people involved include former NFL exec Jim Steeg, political consultant Steve Schmidt, Mike Shanahan, and Adam Schefter.
PacPro would be a professional alternative to the NCAA. The league would be set up for players age 18-21 to be able to step right into pro football out of high school where they would be able to train specifically for the NFL and be paid to do so. Some of the bullet points from the McCaffrey interview:
- The name comes from the fact that the league would be based in California.
- The schedule would be eight games, played in late summer.
- NFL rules would be used, but they plan on incorporating some all-star game rules to prevent injuries.
- All teams would be owned by the league.
- No draft would occur, but the league would be able to move players to maintain competitive balance.
- There is currently no formal relationship with the NFL.
- Players would be free to pursue educational opportunities as they see fit.
Yee has been a pretty outspoken critic of college football and the NCAA, so this isn't a surprise. There isn't much out there about it right now, as the formal launch is supposed to take place within the next couple of weeks. I did find they had a Vimeo account for those that are interested:
https://vimeo.com/user60118038/videos/page:1/sort:date
I have a lot of questions about this thing, and I can't honestly say that I like it on the surface. But, I recognize that it could have a pretty big impact if they do what they say they are going to do.
PacPro would be a professional alternative to the NCAA. The league would be set up for players age 18-21 to be able to step right into pro football out of high school where they would be able to train specifically for the NFL and be paid to do so. Some of the bullet points from the McCaffrey interview:
- The name comes from the fact that the league would be based in California.
- The schedule would be eight games, played in late summer.
- NFL rules would be used, but they plan on incorporating some all-star game rules to prevent injuries.
- All teams would be owned by the league.
- No draft would occur, but the league would be able to move players to maintain competitive balance.
- There is currently no formal relationship with the NFL.
- Players would be free to pursue educational opportunities as they see fit.
Yee has been a pretty outspoken critic of college football and the NCAA, so this isn't a surprise. There isn't much out there about it right now, as the formal launch is supposed to take place within the next couple of weeks. I did find they had a Vimeo account for those that are interested:
https://vimeo.com/user60118038/videos/page:1/sort:date
I have a lot of questions about this thing, and I can't honestly say that I like it on the surface. But, I recognize that it could have a pretty big impact if they do what they say they are going to do.
