The history of alternative professional football leagues is pretty dire. The old USFL in the 1980s had some great players on their rosters, including some future NFL Hall-of-Famers, but they had no cash to pay their bills. The last semi-long-term one was the World League of American Football (NFL Europe/NFL Europa) in the ’90s and early 2000s, but they eventually folded after losing its backers around $30 million a season. The Vince McMahon-founded XFL of 2001 lost even more in its single season. And, of course, we all remember the United Football League (right?), which operated from 2009 through 2012, and ended up getting sued by former players and coaches for back pay.

The obvious common thread is money. Either the leagues were poorly operated or didn’t have enough capital to sustain itself through its initial years — or the audiences just didn’t care enough to pay for a ticket or to even sit on their couch and watch. It didn’t matter that the play on the field was actually pretty solid, and each of those leagues rostered NFL-level talent. People say they want year-round football, but they haven’t really shown it when it actually happens. Maybe there’s just no money to be made in spring football.

That said, the newest pro spring league is the Major League Football league, which just had its first draft. Again, there is some talent here, with a lot of guys who have spent time on NFL rosters — and a lot of guys I was surprised haven’t made it in the NFL (I’m looking at you, Lache Seastrunk, Dan LeFevour, Joe Hill, and Joe Adams). And it’s managed by people who should know what they’re doing, including former Bears GM Jerry Vainisi, San Diego Charger all-time great Wes Chandler, and Frank Murtha, who formed the first Arena League player union and is a Northwestern University professor of Sports Labor Relations and Negotiations.

I hope it works this time around. These players deserve a chance; I actually DO want year-round football; and there’s just too much talent out there that just doesn’t get a chance to develop in the jump from college to NFL.

Here’s the list of skill-position players in the 40-round draft: