*The League As I See It-Part 4: Expansion

[Rusfan]

Expansion:

We’re about 3.5 seasons removed from the addition of the New York Silverbacks and Berlin Fire Salamanders to the league. In that time they’ve both quickly garnered playoff expectations and assembled talented rosters. As nice and necessary as those two teams additions were, I feel we need even more. In fact I’d argue we’re at least 2, if not 4 teams behind. I’m not going to get into branding or location talk, since that stuff isn’t really important in the first place, just some fun window dressing. What I do want to touch on in this segment is 1. The need for having at least 2 if not 4 teams join the league, 2. The impact of those teams joining the league, 3. The search for GMs to lead those teams, 4. The impact for those expansion teams and their early starts in the league.
First up: Why do I feel it necessary for there to be another expansion? Well as I touched on before, I simply feel like the talent pool has been drawn on too generously around the league. So many talented players are on every team that there is almost no way of determining which teams will be good or bad based solely on their rosters alone. (Except for maybe Baltimore). Try this as an experiment if you don’t believe me, go to every teams roster in the ISFL index and check their roster overalls, then without thinking about how they’ve played so far, try to tell me which teams will be good or bad. My point is that they almost all look the same. Now some may argue that expanding on the current talent pool may stretch us too thin, but here’s my argument: You only need 22 starters on your roster. Right now just about every team has at least one very good running back if not two and a complete receiving core. Really if we’re being honest the only places most teams struggle to collect talent is along the trenches, especially the offensive line. Outside of that just about every team has at least one or two players ready to go at every position. Now i’m not naive enough to think we’ll ever manage to make a QB shortage around the league, as long as there’s even a hint of an opening at QB for a team, or even an idea of one, 10 recreates and a few rookies make QBs in the following draft. However I do think it’s possible to make other positions worth more through scarcity.
I also understand that HO only ever likes to expand following big reddit classes, and I understand why. If you over-expand you end up with the opposite issue where there is just not enough players to fill the league and you basically have teams full of bots. That is why I suggest we start with just adding 2 teams soon, and measuring just how the league and it’s rosters are affected. Also, as much as I’m not a fan of just how quickly expansion teams go from bottom-feeders to playoff contenders, I wouldn’t want to move too quickly and screw any new teams over by essentially leaving them with nothing but table scraps in the expansion draft and FA. So as I’ve said, start with two, and if it seems like the league can handle it, expand to another two.

So, let’s say that we get at least two expansion teams. What do I think the impact on the league would be? Well for one thing I need to make a distinction as to whether or not it was coming off of an average class or a reddit class. If it was off of a successful reddit class, nothing much would change. We would get an expansion that just keeps us where we are now, which is behind where we should be, and I will still be making these same arguments. If it was after an average class then I believe we would start to make some ground up. We have to understand that this move will start to strain this league just a bit, and that that is fine.
Some teams will start to show some holes, maybe the Otters keep struggling to develop a run game, or Baltimore will struggle to develop a defense. But I think that as much as these kinds of developments may hurt the members of these teams in the short term, we will see them as a long term good. Instead of teams trying and succeeding at being as good all-around, and consequently being the exact same, we will see very GM-centric team builds. So we’d see teams focusing on building a dominant passing attack, or a great run defense. And by doing this we would see teams be able to build themselves to counter other teams, sort of like how the Ravens built themselves to counter the Steelers over many seasons. Combine that with my other ideas around player contracts and we might be able to see some very interesting offseasons.

Now, we’ve discussed the impact for the league as a whole, but what about the expansion teams themselves? Well, assuming we go full boar with this and expand twice within a close timeframe, these teams would suffer for a time. But I don’t see this as a negative at all. Yes, it might not be as much fun to be on a really bad team as it is to be on a good team, but I know for a fact that there are plenty of users who would want to go through a challenging project like that and would do a damn good job of it. I also want to touch on the realistic aspects of this. It’s been said multiple times that many things about this league are unrealistic and so we shouldn’t strive to achieve anything of realism, but I would argue that balance is the best course. Having some things that are realistic but others that are more fitting of a sim league would maximize the fun of this league, not diminish it. So in that perspective, and taking into account people who want to be a part of a rebuild effort, making teams actually have to go through a strenuous and tough build in their first years of existence is to the benefit of the league, not it’s detriment.
My basis for my opinion comes from Berlin’s second and third seasons, where they struggled, as they should so soon after being created, but instead of people expecting this as a matter of course they reacted with shock. How could a team with such a strong roster not be in playoff contention? I find this line of thinking absurd, a team with only 2 drafts and 2 FA periods, on top of their expansion class, should not be even thinking about playoffs! They should be pushing for some crucial home and division wins, and maybe, just maybe, squeaking into a first round exit in the playoffs.

Finally I want to talk about the theoretical GM search for these expansion teams. Now the rumor mill has been swirling for about a season and a half now that we’ll be expanding again, and a such we’ve had plenty of people throwing their hats in the ring for a selection. I’ve seen about 4 threads in discussion alone arguing for a slot, and who knows how many others will jump at the chance with an official announcement? So the question of finding a GM and Co is not about having a pool of applicants, but more about choosing the right ones. In this selection you’ll have people who have never GMed before along with people who are members of war rooms and COs. Obviously I’m leaning more towards people with experience for such a tough job, such a choice was made with the last expansion with the choices of Dewalt and Woelkers, to great success.
I don’t have much more to say on this topic, as I think the correct answer itself is pretty self-evident. Making sure whoever you choose really, actually knows what they’re signing up for, essentially starting from scratch, wants that job, and is qualified for it. As far as I’m aware any GM pairs picked entered into the selection process together, so there isn’t much of anything to worry about in terms of them not wanting to work together.
So, as a summary/closing, I think we should expand because we’re already behind the curve relative to the size of the playerbase in the league, I think we have plenty of people who both want and deserve a chance at leading a front office, and the league would be better as a whole with more teams in it to promote parity.
Of course, expansion will likely happen following a large group joining the league, and I can understand why they will likely make that choice. But I suppose that if there is any argument to be made, it’s that I truly believe these things will ultimately be best for the league.