Pacific Pro Football League for non-NFL-eligible players to debut in 2018

[Fran]

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/1844 ... ummer-2018

A new pro football league announced Wednesday it plans to begin hiring players in winter 2017 and staging games in summer 2018.

The Pacific Pro Football League is for players who have graduated from high school but aren't in college and haven't been out for three years in order to make themselves eligible for the NFL. The four-team league, based in Southern California, says it will pay players an average salary of $50,000 and play eight games "under professional football rules, protocols and style," according to a statement sent out by the league.

Each team will have 50 players, according to the league, with coaches coming from the professional and college ranks. The players will also receive paid tuition and books at local community colleges.

Don Yee, who is Tom Brady's agent, is among the founders of the league, along with former NFL wide receiver Ed McCaffrey. Bradley Edwards, Jeffrey Husvar and John Chung are also among the league's officers.

"Pac Pro's concept of 'education' is expansive. Every team will have a counselor to help players develop their interests academically and/or vocationally, and assist with coordinating meaningful internships in their fields of interest," Yee said in a statement.

Edwards, the league's chief operating officer, said that Pac Pro closed a round of angel investing and is looking at sponsors and facilities.

Also on the league's advisory board are former head coach Mike Shanahan, former NFL executive Jim Steeg, current Fox NFL officiating analyst Mike Pereira, former chief strategist for the John McCain campaign Steve Schmidt and ESPN's Adam Schefter. Schefter's role is unpaid, and he will be available for league officials to consult as needed.

"Professional football is a very specialized game; it demands precise techniques and a certain mental approach," Shanahan said in a statement. "Pac Pro's time has come, and these fantastic athletes will be well trained for the pro game on and off the field."

This is the second football league to spring up recently. In December, the NFL notified its 32 teams of a spring development league that will operate in April 2017 and will work with NFL veterans who do not have contracts.

[4th&long]

Fran here's more news

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... -football/

Bottomline - like i've been saying there is too much money in pro FB, too many tv channels and new media outlets looking for content, too many millionaire and billionaires with money too burn and too much ego, too many large cities needing a pro team, etc etc so on and so forth...

Plus with Arena / Indoor FB taking a hit and people realizing reg fb is better i expect more

Not to mention all the rule changes and instant DEpLAYS in NFL that are hurting that game

> Speaking of Instant DEplay here is what Pac Pro says about it - I agree <
>>> We believe Pac Pro fans will find the game presenation to be more aesthetically pleasing and lead to greater enjoyment of the subtleties of the sport. Pac Pro also is a developmental league for officials, and Pac Pro also will consider eliminating the use of replay. Officials will be encouraged to have confidence in their calls, and by eliminating replay, game flow will enhance player performance and fan enjoyment. http://www.pacprofootball.com/league/competition/ <<<

That makes 3 legit current attempts PPL SL and SLAF

Lets give them a chance - create some activity on this board

[LordBy2014]

Concept is a good one and starting with four teams in one state not a bad way to go . . .

Am rooting for one of these leagues to get up and going . . .

[4th&long]

Mike Shananhan involved - major sports agents
Former players

Good stuff

https://www.google.com/amp/www.wsj.com/ ... ent=safari

4th

[4th&long]

[quote=""LordBy2014""]Concept is a good one and starting with four teams in one state not a bad way to go . . .

Am rooting for one of these leagues to get up and going . . .[/quote]

Agreed lord

And the fact that they ARE NOT looking for an NFL hand out or any NFL involvement makes me more confident

Here is the official PR

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases ... 88897.html

4th

[mbond]

Well, it's clearly a concept they haven't tried yet. They're keeping it very small at first, which is good. Trying to poach fresh out of HS players and high profile transfers/young college players is a good move, IMO . I could even see this being a league for "one and done" freshman and sophomore players that have a breakout year in college and decide they want to make real money instead of playing for a meal plan at a major college .

from a TV standpoint, I'm not sure how many people will watch the East Los Angeles Toros vs. the Long Beach Sea Otters on a random Sunday night in July, but if people are willing to watch poker or drone racing on ESPN, they will watch anything on TV.

The only thing is that with the PPL is that the season is very short. These guys will be able to workout and train and study football full time for 3-4 months, but college football players are doing this for 9-10 months out of the year part-time. I wonder what would be more of a benefit to the NFL having a PPL "senior" vs. a college football senior. If these players are able to train longer full time in the PPL, it may be more of a benefit to the NFL and this league.

I think it could work. We'll see how it goes.