More on Clarett and Early Entry: Skip Sauer at The Sports Economist (a very fine site) responds to my post of yesterday regarding the lack of a minor league in the NBA and NFL, which does not allow players to develop before jumping onto the main stage:

While this keeps their costs down and stacks the NCAA with marketable talent at a near-zero price, it seems a rich reward to dole out to free riders. The NFL's appeal of the Clarett ruling seeks to negate the opportunity for Clarett and Mike Williams to enter this year's draft, citing "tragic consequences." Ahem. You draft Clarett, pay him a few million, and then put his tender talent at undue risk if he's not yet ready? Please court, help me from myself!

In an economic sense, absolutely, Skip is correct. In a free market, if the NFL teams want to draft a young player, pay him millions and hope that he develops into a star, there is no reason to fault the players. If I could get paid millions of dollars to leave school right now, there is a good chance that I might jump at the chance. However, my post was more about the view of a sports fan and the damage that is done (depending on your opinion) to the game when talented, but perhaps less-skilled players begin to dominate. The trend is becoming evident in the NBA and many people fear it could also affect the NFL. While, as one reader points out, there is NFL Europe, teams do not have direct one-on-one connections to NFL Europe franchises, and in most cases, would rather keep players safe on the sidelines and running practice drills than send them off to get injured in Europe.



Also, I am not yet convinced that the NFL's legal argument is a losing one. The district court judge did not, in my view, give enough deference to the league's collective bargaining agreement, which speaks to this issue. The NFL CBA is probably the best in professional sports and should not be tossed aside as it was in the district court ruling. The judge ruled that the CBA does not apply to Clarett, since a labor agreement cannot preclude a person from employment entirely. However, the other way to look at this is that Clarett is not precluded entirely -- he merely has to wait his turn, at which time he will become subject to the agreement, just like every other player in the NFL.



The 2nd Circuit now has the case -- it will be interesting to see how they rule.

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