Free Market Football

[Voltaire]

Op-Ed Contributor

Free-Market Football

 

By JAMES D. McFARLAND

Published: April 29, 2006

Lincoln, Neb.

 

IN 1970, there was no ESPN to broadcast the National Football League draft, so my fiancée and I just sat in her apartment, hour after painful hour, waiting for the phone to ring. As an All-Big 8 tight end at the University of Nebraska, I had been told by scouts that I might be drafted as early as the second round. Would I, as I hoped, be selected by the Kansas City Chiefs, who'd just won the Super Bowl?

 

Finally, my father called — he'd heard from a local sportswriter that I'd been drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the seventh round. "Are you sure, Dad?" I asked incredulously. On the Cardinals' questionnaire, which I'd returned only as a courtesy, I'd written that because the team had an All-Pro tight end, Jackie Smith, on the roster, "you don't need me!" But my father was right: I was a Cardinal.

 

This weekend, many other college players will have draft experiences similar to mine. Most will not be drafted by the team for which they wish to play, by the team that they will help the most, or by the team that will best further their career.

 

Thus I have to ask: wouldn't both the N.F.L. and the college standouts benefit if teams and players had the opportunity to self-select? Why should teams be limited to negotiating with only a handful of players? Why should a college player be limited to negotiating with the team that drafts him?

 

In theory, the draft seems like a good idea: by allowing the weaker teams to draft earlier from the pool of talent, they can select the better players, thus becoming more competitive.

 

In reality, the history of the N.F.L. draft shows minimal success in achieving competitive balance. Today, perennial losers like the Houston Texans, the New Orleans Saints and my old team, now called the Arizona Cardinals, will again make early selections, hoping to draft the college player who will magically transform them into Super Bowl champions. Next year, however, they will probably have the early selections once again, their fans having endured another losing season.

 

This is because the N.F.L. draft is a guessing game. For example, 10 years ago the New York Jets selected wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson first overall. The Jacksonville Jaguars selected linebacker Kevin Hardy second. Neither has had a superstar career. On the other hand, linebacker Ray Lewis of Baltimore, the 26th pick that year, and linebacker Tedy Bruschi of the Patriots, the 86th pick, have been All-Pros who led their respective teams to a combined four Super Bowl titles.

 

At a recent symposium at Fordham Law School, I asked James Quinn, counsel for the N.F.L. Players Association, what would happen if the draft was abolished and college players could negotiate with any team. To my surprise, he said it wouldn't significantly affect the league much and might be more cost-effective for a team to negotiate one-on-one with as many players as it wished.

 

He's right. With N.F.L. teams sharing revenue and adhering to salary caps, the wealthier franchises have limits on their spending for players and the teams in smaller markets have equal shares of television money in their coffers to compete for talent.

 

What if college football players, like law students, were free to market themselves to employers of their choosing? What would happen if Reggie Bush, today's likely first selection, decides he doesn't want to play for the Houston Texans (who have the first pick), but instead wants to sign with Oakland? What if the Texans then began negotiations with quarterback Vince Young of the Texas Longhorns? For that matter, what if the Texans negotiated with every eligible Longhorn?

 

True free agency for rookies would probably create more geographic rivalries among teams, with players who went to college in a particular region more likely to play for N.F.L. teams there. It would allow college players to select the pro teams that have the offensive or defensive schemes that best suit their talents. The result would be a more competitive league.

 

Today Paul Tagliabue, the N.F.L. commissioner, is presiding over the last draft before he retires. It should also be the last draft for the N.F.L. Let the true competition begin.

 

James D. McFarland, a lawyer, played for six years in the N.F.L.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/29/opinion/...=th&oref=slogin

[Ursa Majoris]

Disagree. The NFL draft method does assist competitive balance.