Conference USA, NFL Network deal a win for the players
The NFL has pretty much stayed out of the college football business, but their deal with Conference USA is a win for the players.
Aside from their network’s extensive draft coverage each year, and a couple small bowl games on its air over a decade ago, the NFL has not been in business with college football. But Monday, it was announced NFL Network will air 10 Saturday afternoon Conference USA football games in each of the next four seasons.
Conference USA gained some notoriety in December 2016 when Lane Kiffin became the head coach at Florida Atlantic. But the conference still suffers from not being among the Power 5. The conference has a deal to air some games on ESPN, to go with agreements with streaming platforms Facebook and Stadium. But the NFL Network deal looks like a nice supplement, as the first of its kind for that network with a college conference.
Conference USA regularly has a team or two jump into the top-25 during a football season. The pipeline of talent headed to the NFL will never be as deep as the bigger conferences, but a first-round pick occasionally comes out of the conference and multiple C-USA players get drafted each year.
The NCAA system doesn’t serve the athletes especially well, leaving aside the idea of paying them in the future or allowing them to directly benefit from their likeness. So exposure is important for those with professional aspirations, and television is still the primary medium for football players.
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NFL teams obviously don’t ignore smaller conferences in their search for player talent. even if whatever stigma is attached to those small conferences will remain on a broad scale. But a swath of games on NFL Network is a big win for the players, and it’s nice to see Conference USA making a move that should benefit everyone involved.