I don't see this being a threat to college football. Maybe a few recruits who absolutely must have money.
But I'm not sure what the difference is between this and the semi-pro teams.
"The development program is for players who graduated high school but aren't currently playing in college"
Prep schools may compete for some of these guys....the semi pro teams too. But any kid with a chance at college with basic smarts and educational ambition ... that persons best move is to get an education.
They'll have to get some fairly large network backing fast or I don't see how this works. I do hope that it spurs college football to give these kids a more fair slice of the pie though.
I don't know how much of a threat it will be. I suppose that if it truly takes off and becomes successful, it could effect cfb, but even then, I'm not sure how much. It seems to have a very specific amount of time that a player is eligible and it can only grow so big (I'd be surprised if it ever even had as many teams as the NFL does).
We'll likely see a few blue chip type players go for the money, but overall, I doubt there will be much impact on the college game.
Where it could get interesting would be if the NFL were to get directly involved ala the NBA with it's D-League. Of course, if that were to happen, then the makeup of the league would likely change to include NFL practice squad players.
They'll have to get some fairly large network backing fast or I don't see how this works. I do hope that it spurs college football to give these kids a more fair slice of the pie though.