1) Drafting is a crap shoot. A developmental league that focuses on NFL skills and showcasing those skills for individual players perhaps makes the NFL Draft more efficient. A ton of player contracts are wasted on guys that don't have the necessary skills to contribute in the NFL despite whatever physical skills they possess. I.E. Logan Thomas. College Football is most interested in itself and placing players in the NFL is only a secondary or even residual goal. Big if, but if this league is successful in southern california, then it would be successful anywhere in the country. At 50 players per team and 4 teams per league - then 5 such leagues would produce an available pool of 1,000 players. Maybe there isn't enough available talent - but $50,000 salary will certainly pull some out of the woodwork.

2a) If 1 turns out to be real, then you increase the pool of available players which increases the quality of play on the field and presumably increases interest in the league which generates more $$ for the league. You have to spend money to make money, the NFL knows that.

2b) If 1 turns out to be real, and you increase the pool of available players, you make NFL expansion not only more likely, but mitigate some of the the negative effects associated with it - i.e. a reduction in the quality of play. How much is another NFL franchise worth to the NFL? Don't doubt for one second that the NFL doesn't want to expand, they do, they just know they have to be smart about it. They could dump $25 million dollars into this league this year and it wouldn't negatively affect their bottom line if it was all wasted money. I'm not saying they will, I'm just saying they could. Heck, just on the fees they collected from the Rams, Chargers and quite likely very soon from the Raiders, they will have over $300 million dollars to play with.