We don’t do a lot of NFL Thursday stuff anymore, but in conjunction with our longtime conviction that the NFL needs its own minor leagues to employ those age-18 kids who want to be paid to play the sport, we have the perfect solution to spread the joy of American football. This to mind this week when we saw the news (at least it was news to us) about the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers playing a game this upcoming regular season in Melbourne, Australia. Let the kids play overseas, for money.

It’s pretty simple actually: what teenage boy wouldn’t want to get paid to play football and travel the world at the same time? Think of all the countries where the NFL has contested regular-season games since 2005: Mexico, England, Canada, Germany, Brazil, Ireland, and Spain. In the next few seasons, games are planned for Australia and France, as well. The message works for age-18 kids who join the military, right? See the world and get paid to do it while doing something you love, instead of going to college.

Boom.

This is a win-win scenario for the NFL and for the kids. The college football landscape has changed in a way that isn’t for the better. Financially, the model is unsustainable, as well, as we have explored. The system in place will continue to self destruct over the next handful of seasons, and most fans will tune out when they fully grasp the fact their school has no chance whatsoever to compete financially with the few select colleges that have the bottomless resources to do so. We are seeing this in basketball, too.

There are plenty of overseas professional leagues for basketball players, though, already. If we were kids with no interest in schooling and wanted to get paid to play our sport, we’d certainly opt for the variety of European basketball leagues paying decent money for talent. Since the NBA won’t draft anyone until their age-19 eligibility is established, why not go to a fun country on another continent for a year, at least, to play and live it up? There are lot less “rules” to follow in that professional pathway.

Thus, the NFL should maximize the moment and do the same for football. It certainly would benefit the NFL financially, and we know that’s the bottom line for the league, based on its existing revenue streams. The NBA has enriched itself quite thoroughly in the international television markets, as we have seen with teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, and Milwaukee Bucks winning the NBA championship with a bevy of international players on the roster who bring in attention from all over.

We know the NFL Europe model failed once before, but the time is right to do it again, properly this time. We all know how the MLB and NHL minor leagues are thriving as talent pipelines for the professionally elite levels, and those college sports remain somewhat sane in terms of financial viability. The NFL pulled out of its European experiment after trying different incarnations from 1989-2007, but the world has changed a lot in the last two decades, and there is no time like the present to try it again, folks.

Bring the joys of American football to the world!