Another League Coming For The NCAA - The PCL Just Signed A Media Deal, Is Now Trying To Land Top High School Recruits And Pay Them $100,000

[Post] - A start-up men’s basketball league, with plans to pay college students and compete with the NCAA, has inked a media rights deal, setting the stage for its debut later this year.

The Professional Collegiate League reached a pact with Next Level, a network owned by a former Obama administration official, that will air its games both on linear TV and streaming platforms.

With a media deal in place, Volante said he expects to begin announcing rosters and coaches, paving the way for the PCL’s first season to begin in August or September.

The PCL, whose leadership includes former NBA star David West, hopes to threaten the primacy of the NCAA by paying its players between $50,000 and $150,000 each year, in addition to offering them stipends to cover college tuition. This season, all of the games will take place in suburban Washington, D.C., but by next year Volante hopes to have teams playing in eight cities, several of them in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The PCL, in addition to paying players a salary, requires them to be enrolled in college. This year, Volante expected many players to attend school virtually. But the plan is for players to be enrolled at local colleges — a player on the Richmond team at the University of Richmond or Virginia Commonwealth, a player on the D.C. team at American University or Howard, and so on. The other cities expected to have teams are Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Atlanta, Raleigh and Charlotte.

Here we go again. The PCL has been talked about for a couple years now. They haven't rushed anything as they've come up with this idea and landing David West. They are also doing it the right way by requiring players to enroll in college while playing. It's not a death to the NCAA or anything like that though. What it should be is a wake up call to the NCAA. If they are able to land a couple decent recruits, the G League lands a few top recruits and the new Overtime League (which got an $80 million funding) lands top recruits, the NCAA needs to change. 

That starts with letting athletes profit on name, image and likeness. That's where the threat (using that term lightly) comes into play. Remember, the one-and-done thing is an NBA rule. College can't change that. But there are now going to be 4 options for players to not play in the NCAA and that's in fact bad. 

Now the PCL has a media deal. It's not ESPN or CBS or NBC, but it's something. The report says they need to raise roughly $10 million in order to pay the 96 players $100,000 or so. This should help them both in the recruiting world and to go to people for funding. There's a plan in place. That's been one of the biggest problems with these start up leagues trying to hurt the NCAA. Everything has felt rushed or there was no plan. The PCL is doing that with who they are targeting, a media deal, getting David West on board and having players go to college. They get to have a free scholarship per se, the diploma and make money. Hmm, seems like something the NCAA should think about. We know there's a push for NIL. Shit, states are signing bills into place and four states it will go into play on July 1. Yet the NCAA is still dragging its feet. 

The problem with all these leagues though is the NCAA is essentially a monopoly. People still want to play for Kentucky and Duke and Kansas and UNC. They still want to play in the NCAA Tournament. They still want to play on national TV every game. That's what the NCAA has to offer. You're highlighted - good or bad - every night on TV. Sure, the fact that 40 million people or so have access to this media deal, but you think my dad knows how to find this? Absolutely not and I don't plan on teaching him. 

Basically once the NCAA opens its eyes and finally allow NIL to happen, these leagues won't ever exist. Until then we're going to see a ton of these things pop up and the G League continue to rise - especially if Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, etc have a strong draft night and perform early on in their NBA careers. It should be a no-brainer but here we are again.