Marlon Crook Jr. (2013) Junior Highlights

George Battle (2013) Junior Highlights

Bowl Schedule

Gildan New Mexico
Temple 37, Wyoming 15

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Ohio 24, Utah State 23

R+L Carriers New Orleans
Louisiana-Lafayette 32, San Diego State 30

Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg
Marshall 20, Florida International 10

S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia
TCU 31, Louisiana Tech 24

MAACO Las Vegas
Boise State 56, Arizona State 24

Sheraton Hawaii
Southern Miss 24, Nevada 17

AdvoCare V100 Independence
Missouri 41, North Carolina 24

Little Caesars
Purdue 37, Western Michigan 32

Belk
NC State 31, Louisville 24

Military Bowl Presented By Northrop Grumman
Toledo 42, Air Force 41

Bridgepoint Education Holiday
Texas 21, California 10

Champs Sports
Florida State 18, Notre Dame 14

Valero Alamo
Baylor 67, Washington 56

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces
BYU 24, Tulsa 21

New Era Pinstripe
Rutgers 27, Iowa State 13

Franklin American Mortgage Music City
Miss. State 24, Wake Forest 17

Insight
Oklahoma 31, Iowa 14

Texas A&M 33, Northwestern 22

Hyundai Sun
Utah 30, Georgia Tech 27 (OT)

AutoZone Liberty
Cincinnati 31, Vanderbilt 24

Kraft Fight Hunger
Illinois 20, UCLA 14

Meineke Car Care of TexasChick-fil-A
Auburn 43, Virginia 24

TicketCity
Houston 30, Penn State 14

Outback
Michigan State 33, Georgia 30 (3OT)

Capital One
South Carolina 30, Nebraska 13

Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl
Florida 24, Ohio State 17

Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio
Oregon 45, Wisconsin 38

Tostitos Fiesta
Oklahoma State 41, Stanford 38

Allstate Sugar
Michigan 23, Virginia Tech 20

Discover Orange
West Virginia 70, Clemson 33

AT&T Cotton
Arkansas 29, Kansas State 16

BBVA Compass Bowl
SMU 28, Pittsburgh 6

GoDaddy.com
Northern Illinois 38, Arkansas State 20

Allstate BCS National Championship
Alabama 21, LSU 0

A (Proposed) Solution to the English Premier League's Debt Crisis

By Edgar Walker

In terms of popularity and exposure in the United States, England’s Barclays Premier League has grown exponentially over the past two years, and for good reason. It’s the most-watched professional sports league in the world, and of all the soccer leagues on Earth, the EPL’s brand of soccer is the most entertaining to watch. MVP Sports Talk’s Edgar Walker reflects on the massive debt crisis crippling many EPL clubs, and brings forward his own proposal to solve the problem.

The FA, England soccer’s governing body, rules over the affairs of the international squads representing the countries, as well as the country’s domestic leagues. Recently, the British government has been putting pressure on The FA to reduce debt levels at some of the major squads in the Premier League. As a result of inflated transfer budgets and player salaries, along with expensive development projects, some of the top English-based clubs are facing massive debt situations, with the worst cases nearing £1 billion.

What many American fans of the EPL don’t realize is that clubs are not guaranteed revenue, as they are in the major leagues in the U.S. Even struggling franchises, namely the Florida Marlins, Jacksonville Jaguars, or Sacramento Kings, still turn profits each season of operation because of shared revenue agreements in the MLB, NFL, and NBA. Because of the promotion/relegation system seen in soccer leagues around the world, revenue sharing is unseen because of the fluid atmosphere of the leagues. Additionally, many of England’s largest cities are home to several different clubs. Because of this, clubs are almost never given any sort of public funding to help build stadiums, develop areas around the stadium, et cetera. On top of all this, consider the over-inflated transfer market, and the fact that each year, more and more money must be spent by clubs who are trying to stay competitive and economically viable in a top-flight league. Eventually (or in some cases, very quickly), the various expenses add up, and put clubs in a financial bind.

My proposal is a simple one; punish clubs on the field for their misbehavior off the field. In the same way that the MLB has a “luxury tax” for those teams that are the most aggressive spenders, the EPL should establish a point deduction system for the biggest spenders in each transfer window. For every £10 million a club spends on transfers, they’d be deducted one point before their season began. The same would go for the January transfer window. There are three reasons why this would be an effective solution for The FA to utilize:

1) Debt would not increase as quickly; clubs such as Manchester City and Chelsea would not spend enormous sums of money on overpriced players in the transfer window.

2) The transfer market would return to a more reasonable state. Clubs without super-rich owners could compete for the same quality players as the cash-laden clubs of the league. In turn, the league would be more competitive; TV ratings would rise, and more fans would be interested in the latter months of the season.

3) Teams would look to reduce spending by turning to their youth academies, and specifically looking to develop cheap, English players. Consequently, the national team would have an influx of talented, well-coached young players coming from academies.

Obviously this solution is one with a few flaws, and it would undoubtedly incite outrage from the rich clubs who are used to spending large sums of money to be competitive. With that said, it’s an idea worth looking into, and at this point, any idea is worth something. The debt problem is widespread in the EPL and across the world, and in a time when the world economy is in worse condition than it’s been for years, it makes little sense for soccer clubs to spend more and more money each year.

Edgar Walker is a young, Baltimore-based sportswriter. Check out his work on Baltimore Sports Report, or follow him on Twitter.

Congrats to the St. Louis Cardinals

On being the 2011 World Series Champions.

TCU Expected to Join Big 12

The Big East Conference held discussions today about possible conference expansion without TCU who was originally expected to join the league in 2012. The Horned Frogs are now expected to join the Big 12 and create regional rivalries with other teams in Texas.

-A