Successful rival leagues

The conversation is limited to the Negro Leagues and the ABA, right? Unless someone wants to make the case for the XFL... Keith Law talks about the ABA here.

I found this story particularly interesting -

The NCAA, always looking for ways to limit student-athletes’ rights, had a “Four-Year Rule” that prohibited college players from leaving for pro careers until they had played four seasons for their schools. The ABA decided to challenge that rule, and the Denver Rockets signed a University of Detroit sophomore named Spencer Haywood to a three-year deal worth $450,000 (with most of the money deferred). They chose Haywood because he was dominating his college competition, but also because they could argue that he was a “hardship case” and needed to earn money to support his mother and nine siblings.

After a year of lawsuits, a judge ruled that the “Four-Year Rule” had no basis in law—similar to this February’s ruling by an Ohio trial judge that the NCAA’s by-law prohibiting players from using agents was invalid. Haywood was able to suit up for the Rockets, winning the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards before jumping ship and signing with the NBA’s Seattle Sonics for more money.

It's borderline criminal (and sometimes straight-up criminal) how the NCAA and the professional leagues team-up to exploit student-athletes. Things like not compensating athletes for using their likeness in videogames should be stopped and revenue shared among the athletes -

O'Bannon's suit seems like a solid one to me: It's obscene that the NCAA doesn't have to share any of the estimated $4 billion it makes in licensing agreements with the former athletes whose talents provide the basis for those agreements. To take just one example, here's a screenshot from EA Sports' NCAA Basketball '09 game that shows two avatars who are obviously UNC's Ty Lawson and Duke's Greg Paulus; but these guys don't see any money from the videogame (and, while Lawson should be okay financially, I think Paulus is going to need the cash.)

The requirement that basketball players be one year out of high school before being eligible for the draft is awful as well, and just another reason that I'm a fan of Brandon Jennings. Maybe it's that I grew up playing tennis where if you aren't a pro by the time you're 18 you've probably hit your ceiling, but I can't help but chafe at the idea of a league dictating requirements that athletes must fulfill before they are able to capitalize on their talent for themselves, instead reduced to offering cheap labor to the NCAA for which it benefits greatly. So Brandon Jennings couldn't play at Arizona because he didn't meet the minimum score for the SAT - playing in Europe was probably the smarter, more beneficial choice anyway, and it's only a matter of time before other people realize it too.