Source: HOME – Pac Pro Football
Remember the name Don Yee. Not because he happens to be the agent of the greatest quarterback in NFL history (Tom Brady), but because at this moment when the NCAA and College Basketball is reeling due to the adidas paying college basketball players scandal his Pac Pro League appears to be a solution that answers the problem with not only the NCAA’s corrupt policies, but also to the hot topic of the US Men’s National Soccer Team failing to make the world cup.
I wrote this short post a while back about the league that was being started by Yee and a host of heavy hitters in football:
Tom Brady’s Agent Is Starting a Pro Football League for College-Age Players | VICE Sports
I also wrote a post that discussed the possibility of paying youth athletes. This article gives multiple examples of athletes as young as 12 years old earning checks from sneaker companies:
Should America Start Paying The Elite Amateur Athletes Like In Europe?
How does a football league hold the answer to Men’s soccer, and basketball? Big time college sports is prime for disruption. Think about it like this, Uber and Lyft work because taxi companies failed to innovate. The NCAA is prime for disruption because while it works for sports like Volleyball and Lacrosse, the NCAA fails incredibly at accounting for the exorbitant profits being shared by everyone except the athletes in college basketball and football.
If Pac Pro produces a quality product next year the NCAA could see it’s best incoming recruits for colleges in the SEC choose to be paid 50,000 for the season playing a game that reduces the likelihood of injury through the rules they will implement. The NFL will see the rule implementation and monitor the success of the league and draft the players who already have some brand equity into their draft and implement the rules into their game. Pac Pro will function as a destination and option for kids who need to help their families immediately. The 1-3 years a player participates they will also have access to college enrollment and workshops to improve financial literacy. If Pac Pro works then it is reasonable to see a similar route working with Soccer which isn’t as physically brutal as Football so the players could potentially participate at an even younger age allowing those players to become better soccer players.
The loss by the Men’s Soccer team to Trinidad and Tobago has brought to the forefront the discussion on amateurism and sports. Sports talk show hosts are attempting to analyze why US Men’s soccer is failing and ultimately some chalked it up to the cost to participate in the sport being an alienating factor in developing “the best athletes” as young soccer players. The best athletes are not traditionally found in middle class families.
“Pac Pro” will definitely be considered in basketball because the scandal with adidas and the college coaches is going to open a can of worms on the entire world of college basketball. The “Pac Pro” concept for basketball already has a proven marketing element.
Why Zion Williamson May Be the Best Endorser of the Adidas Harden Vol. 1
I wrote the above article last year. adidas saw an increase in basketball sales this year. That growth can be linked to James Harden, but I tend to link it to a high school player who has more views online than almost any professional basketball player in the world. Zion Williamson shows that young people will watch other young people play basketball games online. This was proven with the live streams of games at adidas’ Gauntlet and Nike’s Peach Jam as well as Under Armour’s summer event:
Under Armour Basketball: UA Association Basketball Championship | We R 1 vs Team Charlotte
These three events are in jeopardy as sneaker brands will probably be pulling funding for programs in the next year as the smoke clears from the current federal investigation of players being paid.
Don Yee’s Pac Pro is more important than ever and I personally think it’s time for an adjustment to be made. The pro game will be better off in the long run and athletes who deserve to earn will be able to assist their families. It’s a win-win for kids, and a lose lose for an entity (NCAA) that needs to be given a mafia styled send off as it relates to NCAA Football and Basketball.
Source:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/don-yee-bucks-system-ncaa-pacific-pro-football-article-1.3201543
