Apparently the Pacific Pro Football League has been in the works for some time but I'm just now hearing about for the first time on my ride into work this morning as Ed McAffrey (who is a part of the league) was interviewing an NFL Agent who is an executive for this league...
The league will not only allow players fresh out of high school to play, but ONLY players that are within a four-year timespan following high school are eligible to play in the league. They are going to offer base salaries, benefits and even will pay for one year's tuition (and books) at a community college for their players (meaning the player would have to pay for the other year).
The first year is only going to be four teams and will begin play next July (it's going to be a summer league). Now, at first glance I would kind of shrug it off as a league that won't make it past a year or two but not only do they have Addidas as a corporate sponsor but evidently several streaming services have thrown some big offers to them, too.
When you look at four teams it doesn't seem like too much of a big deal, but when you take into account that each team will have 50 players, that's around 200 total players, all of which would likely be on college rosters instead. I know the majority of big time high school athletes aren't going to take a risk like this but there will def. be some big time recruits that the offer of money straight out of high school will be too much to turn down (especially kids that literally come from nothing) and this league, which is promoting itself as a stepping stone to the NFL just like college, is bringing in a ton of NFL talent like Mike Shanahan to develop these kids.
I'm all for more options and I love that new leagues are popping up (it looks like by 2020 we are going to have literally year-round football with the AAF (winter Feb-April), XFL (April-June) and Pacific Pro (July-August) but this could end up having a huge impact on college football.
HOME - Pacific Pro Football
The league will not only allow players fresh out of high school to play, but ONLY players that are within a four-year timespan following high school are eligible to play in the league. They are going to offer base salaries, benefits and even will pay for one year's tuition (and books) at a community college for their players (meaning the player would have to pay for the other year).
The first year is only going to be four teams and will begin play next July (it's going to be a summer league). Now, at first glance I would kind of shrug it off as a league that won't make it past a year or two but not only do they have Addidas as a corporate sponsor but evidently several streaming services have thrown some big offers to them, too.
When you look at four teams it doesn't seem like too much of a big deal, but when you take into account that each team will have 50 players, that's around 200 total players, all of which would likely be on college rosters instead. I know the majority of big time high school athletes aren't going to take a risk like this but there will def. be some big time recruits that the offer of money straight out of high school will be too much to turn down (especially kids that literally come from nothing) and this league, which is promoting itself as a stepping stone to the NFL just like college, is bringing in a ton of NFL talent like Mike Shanahan to develop these kids.
I'm all for more options and I love that new leagues are popping up (it looks like by 2020 we are going to have literally year-round football with the AAF (winter Feb-April), XFL (April-June) and Pacific Pro (July-August) but this could end up having a huge impact on college football.
HOME - Pacific Pro Football