[AuH2ORepublican]

"Are businesses that only hire college graduates illegally discriminating? Or do high school graduates have a right to be hired by them?"

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Since when does the NFL require a college degree for its players? I believe that less than half of its players graduated from college. The problem is that the NFL and NBA, unlike Major League Baseball, have their heads too far up their respective posteriors and refuse to set up a farm system to train young players. Major League Baseball teams signs hundreds of kids out of high school every year, and send them to the minor leagues, where they can develop and, if they make the grade, are eventually called up to the majors. Why can't the NBA and NFL do the same? Teams could draft whoever the hell they want, and if they aren't ready to play in the highest level they can keep them in a lower league. Nobody forces the teams to draft or sign young players---if a team refuses to draft players who are not at least 21 or who have not graduated from college, that's their prerogative. But it is wrong for this semi-governmental body (which has a monopoly on professional football in the U.S.) to tell a private corporation that it may not draft a player they want to draft simply because the league and the players' union want to keep salaries low.

[You Dirty Rats]

Salaries are set by the collective bargaining agreement. Whether you draft a 19-year-old with one year of college or a 22-year old with four does not affect your salary cap.

[Bogey78O]

As someone's said before, NFL teams are franchises. Not wholey independant businesses.

The NFL sets the rules.

[discostu]

NFL Europe was created to be the NFL's farm system. It's failing miserably. On the other hand the CFL and Arena League are doing a pretty good job of training marginal players and injecting them in the NFL.

The NBA has been experimenting with using the various semi-pro leagues as a farm system, but it's not working too well either.

They don't have their heads up their posteriors on this, but making a farm system isn't just a matter of waving a wand, it takes a lot of organization and effort and a little luck.

[Dog Gone]

Since when does the NFL require a college degree for its players?

I was making an analogy to other companies in the US. Companies may make their own hiring practices so long as they're not illegally discriminating.

The NFL rule applies to all students, and that is the only criteria. It's legal.