S25 Expansion

[infinitempg]

I get the experience angle, I think my problem is current GM's getting the gig. You can't say "those jobs will need replacing" when 3/4 of them are already filled immediately. I also don't think its fair to say to someone "Just ask your GM", there are so many people that the path to becoming a GM is blocked and if someone doesn't like you, you won't get the job.

This is a fair and legitimate gripe (although it’s 2/3? Westy isn’t a current GM, and Baltimore’s is still open IIRC). The DSFL GM->ISFL GM pipeline is pretty common, but having two spots going to current ISFL CO’s can be concerning and I understand that. In my thought process, I saw woelkers already stepping down and pairing himself with an experienced former GM - and I thought it was a home run pick. Obviously I’m friends with them, but regardless of that fact I thought their experience taking what was the league laughingstock for 18 seasons into a title winner was a no brainer. I saw dewalt’s strengths and attitude from his time in Minnesota (with woelkers ironically) and Baltimore and thought he would also make an excellent expansion GM. One of the biggest weaknesses of his application though, and something we debated in HO, was your concern - we would be taking a current GM who had no real plans of leaving prior to expansion from a team. But in the end we thought that it was a strong enough bid and that Baltimore had many very good options to replace him with.

That being said, I am all for (a) encouraging more newer people to try and join war rooms at all levels and (b) expanding war rooms in the ISFL. This can help newer users get their toes in the water of GMing and all the fun responsibilities of it, though it doesn’t help with the liking or friends part. For the most part we are hands off with who teams select as their successor GMs, and so that’s a team side issue. The last thing this league needs is HO meddling too much in team management decisions unless absolutely necessary.