Ivy League Football and the NFL

I know it's a few days late, but I just found this post on the New York Times college sports blog. According to Princeton head coach Roger Hughes, Ivy League football is similar to the NFL because of the recruiting restrictions placed by the League.

The post also brings up the oft-cited issue of banning the Ivy League regular season champion -- or for that matter any Ivy team -- from the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.

While I certainly argree with the overturning the ban, I don't know if I can agree with the NFL comparison. Maybe if the Ivy League had limited scholarships instead of the limited lower academic slots, then the comparison to the salary cap would be better suited. Furthermore, the salary cap isn't that much of a hinderance to the top teams in the NFL. In fact, salary caps help cut ownership costs, which obviously is not a hinderance to NFL owners like the limited lower academic slots are to Ivy football coaches.