the CFL is not a minor league.

Yes the talent is lower because a country with a population less than California alone can not afford player salaries of the NFL but it’s no minor league.

The CFL is a completely independent league with its own rules and traditions.

How many NFL teams are from before WWI? How many NFL teams are from the 1800′s? None.

In fact the NFL and CFL were on equal footing until just the past few decades when pro athlete’s started getting paid more.

Man, you American’s don’t know a thing about the CFL or how it’s run. And if you’re Canadian: stop talking out of your ass like a little kid, which you probably are.

The CFL is stronger than ever. The UFL wouldn’t help and the idea is simply stupid. Sorry but you obviously don’t know a thing about the business side of pro football. It wouldn’t work, and the CFL wouldn’t want it and neither would its fans.

I want the UFL to succeed, I think with some smart expansion, playing in the spring and creating ties with the NFL would benefit the league greatly. Not merging with a far more successful league with a tradition in Canada with completely different rules and a huge fan-base.

While we’re at it might as well have the Arena League merge to cause it has similar problems right?

Shut up. It’s a bad idea.

Do an internet search for Arizona Bisbee Massacre and it has the story of how and why these guys got ‘legally hanged’.

Dude, that was the longest comment ever. Maybe you should be checking the want ads.

The only way it remotely makes any sense is if they are trying to create a minor league for the NFL. But even that is crazy bc it hasnt worked and there are reasons for that. In hockey and baseball no matter how talented a player is they always need time in the minors to develop. That constant infusion of talent is what makes those leagues so successful. In Football you never know if a rookie is going to come into the league and be 1 of the best players instantly, a bust, or need time to develop. Teams want to win now so they are always going to want to have that rookie on the pro roster if it means theres a chance he can help them win.

This is also true in basketball but it is also why the nba’s minor leagues arent nearly as successful as the nhl or mlb. The players that make it to the nba minors are basically throw away players not like the other leagues. Beyond that the size of their rosters and the less physical nature of the game makes it a more viable sport for a minor league then the nfl. The top picks usually make their limited rosters but after that most of the new talent wont make the pro teams. That leaves the teams with a lot of players to fill out the minor leagues. They also dont have to worry as much about these players get injured bc of the nature of the sport. Which makes the teams feel more at ease when sending their players there.

Football doesnt operate like that. Their rosters are alot bigger and everyone from a 1st round pick to a UFA has a chance to make the team. That doesnt leave the NFL with alot of players left to send down to a minor league system. But even if they did have players to send down NFL teams would be wary of doing it bc of the chance of injury. They would only send down their most expendable players. Which in most cases would be their very worse players. That would leave the the talent leven lacking. Defeating the whole purpose of a minor leagues.

Even if you overlooked all of that a lot changes would have to happen for it to be a viable opition for the NFL. For example the draft would most likely have to change. Right now the draft ends after 7 rounds then it becomes a free for all for the best remaining players. Unlike the draft there is no system to help the worst teams from the previous year get better by getting the best remaining players. It is basically a money and popularity contest. The best teams with the most money get the best players.

There is 1 more thing that goes into a undrafted free agents decision when deciding what team to sign with and thats position depth and a chance to play. Alot of these UFA give up offers worth more money from the best teams bc they have a greater chance of making the roster of a lesser team bc of lack of depth at their position and just all around lack of talent. That fact is what keeps this process some what fair, but a minor league would mostly do away with that. Those guys wouldnt have to choose the lesser team over the greater team, or the cheaper contract over the richer contract, because their chances of getting cut are smaller with the non contender. Why? because now the have the opition of going to the minor leagues. The dont have to worry about not getting enough opportunties to impress the coaches bc of to much competition at their position. They will have more then enough chances in the minors to show their abilities.

Taking that bargaining tool away from the worse franchises in the NFL would greatly reduce the chances of them ever climbing out of that hole. The NFL is obsessed with parity and the fact that every year each team suposedly has a chance to win it all. A minor league without rule changes to the way ufa’s are acquired would completely destroy parody in the NFL. The dozen or so teams in the biggest markets and the greatest success would get all the top ufa. Those guys wouldnt want to join the Browns, 49ers, or Lions of the league and wasting half their career on a team that isnt going to win. When they have the ability to join a team like the Patriots, Colts, or Eagles who have had continuous success over the last decade. Now I know there are reasons why those rookies were undrafted in the 1st place, bc they werent that great. But there are also a ton of great players in the nfl and through its history that went undrafted. Not to mention all the players that could have been great but got cut to soon in their rookie year before they had a chance to impress their coaches, who now will have a chance to do so bc of the minors.

The NFL’s only chance to stop that from happening is to lengthen the draft. They would have to recreate the drafts of the past. Where the 7th round isnt even close to being the half way point. That is the only way to keep parody in the NFL. Otherwise the best players will pick the best teams 9 times out of 10. This is just the basics of what a minor league would mean for the draft. This doesnt even take into account the fact that NFL franchises would probably have to add more scouts and pay more money to everyone involved with draft for more then doubling their work load.

The draft is just 1 example of how adding a minor league would cause there to be massive changes to the way the NFL does bussiness. There is so much that needs to be done to make it a viable opition. Im not saying adding a sister league would be a bad thing in fact I would love for it to happen. It would only improve the quality of the games played by the pro team.

My only problem with it is the guys who are trying to make it happen. They should have realized well in advance of opening the league, that even if the nfl became interested in buying out league and turning it into an minor league that it would take them a significant amount of time to work it out. Not to mention that the NFL was on the cusp of the end of labor peace with its employees/players and that they would have a lot more pressing matters to attend to, like 9 billion dollars for instance, then buying up a competitor that was less a threat to the leagues well being then a mosquitoe bit is to an elephant. Obviously they thought non of that through. If they did they wouldn’t be having finacial problems in their 3rd year and already having to push back training camps and possibily games. They would have had money set aside knowing that it would take years before the NFL took real interest in the acquiring the league. Also they would have realized that if the NFL was interested that they would be watching the league and how it operates through tv, fans, attendance, merchandise, and finacial problems to see how these guys handle the situations and if they wanted to be in bussiness with these men. From my prespective they seem to have failed at each and every turn.

Finally if the owners of the UFL would have thought it through and considered all the things the UFL and the NFL would need to do to make a minor league system work, they would have waited until after the collective bargaining agreement and the labor unrest was settled before ever opening their league. I dont know how the NFL could want to be in bussiness with a bunch of guys who didnt have the common sense or bussiness acumen to realize that their timing was horrendous.

How is this news?

Tiki Barber.

Then the UFL could be the Underwear Football League.

I know they did, but last time the CFL was in major trouble financially. It actually made teams in the USA and nobody had ever heard of them. This time, at least they aren’t as strapped and possibly could strike a deal with the NFL for marketing, etc. NFL already has major control of the CFL’s marketing after the 1990 bail out that few remember. The NFL could help financially and the CFL and UFL could join as a farm league of sorts. And for every CFL fan, keep the rules and field, etc. It already basically is a farm league anyways for those that don’t make it to the NFL immediately or for those who aren’t NFL ready. This time, though, the cities with the UFL teams are already set up with teams so the cost would be much less to join.

If you want to talk about the UFL, then we can talk about the UFL. Which we are NOT going to do. Then you can do THAT!

However, I think to start they should only have 16 teams rather then 32. you could run it similar to the D-league of the NBA at least to get things rolling in a positive manner. Less up front cost to creation and implementation. You have a team shared by an AFC and NFC team and you operate it almost like waivers.

First choice each season goes to the team with the lower record and it goes back and forth from there through the minor league team.

Eventually this could be expanded to every team having a UFL squad. At this point you now can have your practice squad guys, some rookies, and maybe your up and coming franchise QB getting reps under your offense and scheme.

It is a win-win for everyone.

Once this is in place hell, who is to say that the NFl doesn’t buy a controlling interest in the AFL. Lets not forgot some of the talent that has come out of Arena Football.

A LOT of good players wouldn’t have gotten a chance if not for NFLE.

Their only hope is being bought by the NFL or absorbed by the CFL. But the CFL already tried to expand into the states and it just didn’t take.

Even the NFL couldn’t make the product work in Europe. I’m thinking NCAA football and the NFL are all the fans really want.

Michael Huyghue tried to go big time and it backfired!!! Again, never let lawyers run an actual business!!!!

The only thing they’re good at is running pro football websites in West Virginian basements!!!