Point of Veau: NFL D-League Can Offset Loss of Preseason Games

Packers president Mark Murphy supported the elimination of two preseason football games in remarks made on Tuesday. Here's how to replace them.

Packers president Mark Murphy created some headlines at his press conference following the team's annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday by saying he supported the elimination of two preseason football games and maintaining a 16-game regular season.

This comes more or less in response to the calls for more attention to health and safety of players in the NFL. With concussion lawsuits and allegations of bounties in the NFL, it's a topic that's not being taken lightly.

Over the past few seasons, there was a push for the elimination of two preseason games but adding two games to the regular season to make an 18-game schedule. It was an idea that appeared to be gaining some traction too.

Murphy became one of the few visible figures in the NFL to voice his disapproval of the 18-game proposal.

Getting rid of two preseason games, however, would come with a cost, a big one in the world of professional football. That's two less games, one home and one away, for teams to make money in the form of ticket sales, concessions, parking, etc. in addition to the money generated from television contracts.

It's going to be difficult to get both owners and players to get behind the elimination of two preseason games if it means less revenue and smaller contracts. Unless, of course, there's a way to replace that money.

I used to think that at some point, the NFL would follow the lead of MLB and create some sort of minor league in which each big-league team ran a farm team. Those thoughts, for all intents and purposes, are gone. And I definitely don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell that the NFL is ever going to be willing to outsource its player development to some upstart like the USFL or the UFL.

But I do think there's room for some sort of player development program in the NFL, and furthermore, I think there's a chance it could possibly defray the costs of losing two preseason games.

Instead of a baseball-esque minor league model, I can envision a version of the NBA's D-League (developmental league).

I'm sure this idea isn't exactly original, and what follows is more a stream-of-consciousness than a well-developed business plan, but imagine the following...

  • The NFL Draft pushed up to March, maybe early April including additional rounds, which would only seem to make sense for the NFL to capitalize the immense popularity of the Draft.
  • Shortly after the Draft, every NFL team puts together a D-League team made up of rookies and other young players with minimal NFL experience.
  • Every team would play a four-game D-League season in their own home stadium, two home and two away. For a team like the Packers, these games would be played at Lambeau Field with players wearing Packers uniforms in roughly the May timeframe. Perhaps these games aren't sellouts and ticket prices are probably much lower, but I still think the interest would be high and it would help offset the loss of the preseason games. As for a team like Jacksonville, that's another story.
  • If a team doesn't want to expose their high-round draft choices to potential injury, it's up to them. Or perhaps they play in a very limited basis.
  • It could also serve as a way for coaching development. Imagine a guy like Edgar Bennett serving as the head coach of the Packers' D-League team.
  • When the D-League is over, rosters are trimmed and those players join the team's offseason program with the rest of the veterans.
  • For established veterans, they're playing in less games. And while rookies, might be playing slightly more, it's all in the name of development.

As I alluded to earlier, there's a million issues that would have to be ironed out for something like this to take place. But the idea is intriguing. Let your imagination run wild.

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Comments (5)

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Tommyboy's picture

July 24, 2012 at 09:30 pm

I can't imagine this wouldn't make money. As you pointed out, Jacksonville (and a few others) might be a different story. For the NFL as a whole though, I could see it being profitable. I could also see it being of interest to coaches as they get more opportunity to practice. If health/safety is the core issue for any season extension though, this might be a tough sell. Still - I like it. I'd be at Lambeau to watch.

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leviticus268's picture

July 24, 2012 at 10:39 pm

I love this idea. What I found to me most interesting was the idea of coach development. I really could see this working. I would go to as many D-league games as I could.

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Beep's picture

July 25, 2012 at 07:53 am

I like the concept, but I do not see all 32 teams being able to pick up 30+ rookies to cover all the positions unless they went 7 on 7. I think you would almost have to pair up 2-4 teams rookies in order to field something worth watching.

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Evan's picture

July 25, 2012 at 10:32 am

I would love to see more of an NFL minor league system. And I think between the CFL, UFL, Arena League, etc.. there would be more than enough players to field 32 teams.

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redlights's picture

July 25, 2012 at 10:47 am

So each team would play each other? Why not have the divisional teams play each other?

I'm thinking that owners won't want to be associated with such a below average enterprise. Though if it makes money, why not.

Would it make money, then, becomes the question. The players won't work for free; and it takes a certain amount of revenue to cover the cost of operating the stadium.

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