Expansion Proposal

Greetings League Mates,

   This is a proposal for a two franchise expansion of our beloved Ball & Chain Dynasty League. Some of you may be excited about this idea (I sure am), but I am sure some of you are very wary of the idea. The point of this proposal is to spark a conversation between the ten of us. I want to engage you all in this idea, and by the end of our discussion and debate, it is my hope that we come to a consensus as a league to extend two invitations to start two new franchises. I will first discuss how I feel we best implement the two team expansion (timing, inviting new owners, and how to fill the new rosters). Then I will share what I feel are the positives and negatives of my proposal.
   An expansion effort would be large, nay a SEISMIC, change in our league. Because this is such a large change, I feel that this will require near unanimous or even unanimous approval and at least one entire league year (regular, post, and off seasons) to implement. For example purposes I will use a thought experiment to explain how I foresee the implementation process to unfold:
We debate, offer ideas, and we engage each other regarding the expansion. This is to be done after the league’s Super Bowl. From there we have deemed an expansion a positive change through debate and conversation and voted to begin a two team expansion. At this point we each have the opportunity to propose candidates for potential ownership in our league. Here, as a league, we pick by a vote the two most deserving. “Most deserving” is to be proved by the candidates and their sponsors.
Now that we have two new owners (hitherto referred to as “young blood”), our next step would be filling their rosters. This is a balancing act of keeping the building efforts of the OG owners intact all the while making sure the young blood owners are not bottom feeders for years to come. We as OG owners, must be willing to lose players from our current rosters in the interest to make the young blood owners somewhat competitive out of the gate. The young blood owners will have a startup draft of twenty three rounds and pick players from the OG owners’ benched players and the current waiver wire. The order of their picks will be decided by a coin flip. First, I want to make it impossible for the OG owners to lose star players. Each OG owner can protect their starting lineup of nine players. Second, to ensure any particular OG team is not picked clean of talent, I propose that a maximum of three players can be selected from each OG team. That will provide thirty roster-worthy players to the young blood owners. That is fifteen of the twenty three roster spots for each young blood owner. Both of the young blood owners will be allowed two extra rookie picks for their first rookie draft. The first pick is at the end of the first round, and the second at the end of the third round. The extra draft capital can be used to build through the draft or allow the young blood owners to trade them. I do not feel that these franchises would be competitive for the first or second season, but if we allow savvy owners into our league, they will use the resources we have given them to build a dynasty. Because of the high likelihood that the young blood will not be competing in the Super Bowl for the first few years, their league dues should be waived for the first season (tom: only one season, not two). If one of the young blood franchises does finish the league high enough to earn a payout, they must pay their league dues prior to receiving a payout. With the increased league revenue we could increase our payouts, but I think we should focus on creating something that benefits as many owners as possible. My suggestions would be upgrading to a paid league hosting site, paying for the engraving and shipping of the league trophy (I would like to also fully reimburse the owner who had it made and retroactively pay for the shipping and engraving that has occurred thus far), or we can save it up to fund a live draft somewhere fun (think The League doing it in Las Vegas), or even pay Tom for his services as the Commish.
   The most immediate and largest negative for my modest proposal are that the OG owners are potentially compromising our efforts of building a team that competes year in and year out. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out a truly perfect way to balance fairness between the young blood owners’ initial rosters and the OG owners’ current rosters. The other negative would be managing another two individuals when it comes to the yearly rookie draft, payment of dues, setting proper weekly line ups, and voting on league rules and changes. I’m sure there are other valid reasons why the other OG owners would argue against a league expansion, and I look forward to examining them with all of you.
   
   The positives would be first and foremost two new faces to compete against, interact with, and share our world-class league with. Our league would increase revenue, and our circle of friends would grow as well. New ideas would bubble up at an increased speed. Our league would become more competitive and finding that diamond in the rough would be that much hard due to more players being off the waiver wire, but also it would be that much more rewarding when one is found.

   To sum up the entire proposal: We nearly or fully unanimously vote in favor of a two team expansion. Those two young blood owners have a twenty three round draft consisting of current bench players (a maximum of three bench players can be selected form each OG team’s bench) and the current waiver wire. The draft order is determined by a coin flip. The young blood owners have two extra rookie draft picks during their first rookie draft. The first pick is at the end of round one and the second is at the end of round three. Their league dues are waived for the first two years; however, if they finish in a place that has a payout, they must pay their league dues prior to receiving the payout. The extra league revenue will be used in such a way to benefit as many of the owners as possible.

Tom additions:
Each expansion team can only choose 5 players above 50 adp.
Each OG team can only lose 1 player above 50 adp
Each expansion team can only choose 5 players between 50-100 adp
Each OG team can only lose 1 player between 50-100 adp

Order of draft
Expansion
Rookie
Idp

Idp order determined in order I've explained already (current highest dst scoring on roster or roster total for the position - whichever is higher)

I voted yes to the expansion and to not delay the IDP draft.

If we are going to expand the league, I believe now is the perfect time to switch to IDP's. I see no point in putting it off if we're just going to do it next season.