I am going to expand upon aaronito’s idea of implementing a relegation system for the league and possible way that would look.
First step is actually decrease the size of the NSFL back down to 8 teams and expand the DSFL to 8 teams. 2 of the 8 DSFL teams would remain bots as preemptive preparation for unexpectedly large class sizes like that of S15. Each NSFL Conference would be tied up with one of the DSFL Conferences. For the example let us affiliate the NSFC to the SFC and the ASFC to the NFC. Additionally let’s presume that the league loves the relegation idea and wants to implement it for the start of S17. I would auto move the Yeti and the Copperheads down from their NSFL conferences to their affiliated DSFL conferences.
Moving forward after the initial season, at the end of each season the Best Regular Season Team from the SFC, would play a home game vs the last place team in the NSFC. The loser is relegated to the SFC and the winner is promoted to the NSFC for the next season (S18). The same would occur with the teams in the NFC and ASFC.
Of course you are now asking how would drafts work now that teams are moving up from the DSFL to NSFL and visa versa. My proposal is that we move to a single draft system. Of course now you say that most draft classes don’t have enough players to support a 14 team draft. My solution is that only the teams relegated in the DSFL get to draft new players. Of course you say "that opened up a whole new can of worms, specifically draft capital, ie trading future picks for players."
I propose that teams can only sign players obtained through the draft to a 2 year max contract. In the current system new players are already tied to a DSFL team for one year, allowing those teams to sign drafted players to a 2 year contract gives the DSFL teams opportunity to build momentum to earn promotion. However, since the contracts are only a 2 year max, if said team is unable to gain promotion, the teams promoted in the NSFL have a huge bargaining chip to use for signing free agents - “Don’t wait for promotion, we are already promoted”.
Oh now you want to know if picks can still be traded. I say sure. The team that earns promotion gives their future draft picks to the team that is relegated in the affiliated conference, since only teams in the DSFL get to draft players. You’re concerned that DSFL teams will trade away all future draft picks screwing over the next team that gets relegated. That can already happen, ie Colorado, but there are current rules in place to help prevent that from happening, the LVL trade rules. Additionally, a DSFL team wouldn’t want to trade away all of their future picks, because then they screwed themselves if they don’t earn promotion within 2 season because of the 2 year max on draft contracts. I am sure there are other potential problems, but I am already way past 200 words. If anyone (other players, GMs, HO) wants to further flesh out this idea, I'd be happy to be apart of that process.
First step is actually decrease the size of the NSFL back down to 8 teams and expand the DSFL to 8 teams. 2 of the 8 DSFL teams would remain bots as preemptive preparation for unexpectedly large class sizes like that of S15. Each NSFL Conference would be tied up with one of the DSFL Conferences. For the example let us affiliate the NSFC to the SFC and the ASFC to the NFC. Additionally let’s presume that the league loves the relegation idea and wants to implement it for the start of S17. I would auto move the Yeti and the Copperheads down from their NSFL conferences to their affiliated DSFL conferences.
Moving forward after the initial season, at the end of each season the Best Regular Season Team from the SFC, would play a home game vs the last place team in the NSFC. The loser is relegated to the SFC and the winner is promoted to the NSFC for the next season (S18). The same would occur with the teams in the NFC and ASFC.
Of course you are now asking how would drafts work now that teams are moving up from the DSFL to NSFL and visa versa. My proposal is that we move to a single draft system. Of course now you say that most draft classes don’t have enough players to support a 14 team draft. My solution is that only the teams relegated in the DSFL get to draft new players. Of course you say "that opened up a whole new can of worms, specifically draft capital, ie trading future picks for players."
I propose that teams can only sign players obtained through the draft to a 2 year max contract. In the current system new players are already tied to a DSFL team for one year, allowing those teams to sign drafted players to a 2 year contract gives the DSFL teams opportunity to build momentum to earn promotion. However, since the contracts are only a 2 year max, if said team is unable to gain promotion, the teams promoted in the NSFL have a huge bargaining chip to use for signing free agents - “Don’t wait for promotion, we are already promoted”.
Oh now you want to know if picks can still be traded. I say sure. The team that earns promotion gives their future draft picks to the team that is relegated in the affiliated conference, since only teams in the DSFL get to draft players. You’re concerned that DSFL teams will trade away all future draft picks screwing over the next team that gets relegated. That can already happen, ie Colorado, but there are current rules in place to help prevent that from happening, the LVL trade rules. Additionally, a DSFL team wouldn’t want to trade away all of their future picks, because then they screwed themselves if they don’t earn promotion within 2 season because of the 2 year max on draft contracts. I am sure there are other potential problems, but I am already way past 200 words. If anyone (other players, GMs, HO) wants to further flesh out this idea, I'd be happy to be apart of that process.
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