I was reading an article recently about how the new AAF pro football league was having success with TV distribution and noticed that they will also have games on the NFL Network. I thought that was interesting.

Now obviously, the AAF will never compete head to head with the NFL and that's the prime reason the games will be held during the Spring. I thought it was a savvy move on the part of the NFL to partner up with the new league for content purposes if nothing else. Add to that the league will act as an incubator for talent. Really, the NFL has no reason not to come alongside the AAF and help it be successful.

So.........that got me thinking.

What if college football had something similar?

One of these days, a lot of small colleges are probably going to close anyway. Nonetheless, there will still be a surplus of athletes that want to play the game. What if we brought back the concept of junior varsity football for the college game? What if we just did it in such a way as to create a separate league that played at different times of the year?

For example, what if it was designated that freshmen(even redshirts) and sophomores could form their own team? Throw in the walk-ons and you should have enough to field a decent sized squad that serves the purpose of giving younger and inexperienced players an opportunity to learn the game in a competitive environment.

Now, if the coaches decide that certain freshmen and sophomores are good enough to play varsity then that's fine, but the goal of the squad would be to offer experience and training. In fact, it would have to be decided before the season which squad a player would be assigned to because it would be too many games otherwise.

Also, the coaches for this team could be a completely different staff. They could be purely developmental in their skill set rather than recruiters and game day coaches. That would offer more opportunities for coaches to break into the game or stick around longer. It could also offer opportunities for coaches to cut their teeth at managing a program or play-calling.

That's a little bit of an aside, but here's the crux of it...

Play the JV games over the Summer when there's a lull in TV viewership for big time sports. There's also a hunger for football and perhaps playing a handful of games during this time of year would help TV ratings for conference networks. You could create a Spring game like atmosphere a few weeks over the course of the Summer and that would be great for some of these small communities that rely heavily on football tourism. You could sell cheap tickets and cheap concessions and give something for fans to chew the fat about before the real season begins in earnest.

This is also the perfect time of year to host FCS squads because the games would be more competitive. That and schools could still get decent revenue from a few home games and that should help supplement income for when the college game moves more away from cupcakes.

I think the only question is Title IX. What do you do to make sure you've got enough scholarship players to fill out two squads? Well, you'd have to add a few to the football ledger, but creating an additional women's sport at every school should be enough to cover it. Let's say football caps went from 85 to 100. That's only 15 more players so it shouldn't be hard to compensate for that.

Thoughts?

What if they're setting this up to REPLACE college football (in the wake of all the lawsuits, etc.). Oh, there will still be college football, but imagine it without any of the 5-star players and most of the 4-stars, too (all gone to the new minor league). Imagine a return to amateur college football, with all of the guys just using it as a stepping stone to the NFL going straight to the AAF...

Certainly one possible outcome.

(02-05-2019 04:29 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  What if they're setting this up to REPLACE college football (in the wake of all the lawsuits, etc.). Oh, there will still be college football, but imagine it without any of the 5-star players and most of the 4-stars, too (all gone to the new minor league). Imagine a return to amateur college football, with all of the guys just using it as a stepping stone to the NFL going straight to the AAF...

Certainly one possible outcome.

Get back to academic powerhouses winning national championships like the Ivy League, B1G, and Notre Dame. Wouldn’t be a bad thing. I might actually be more interested. Go back to regional conferences.