Expanding a league

[captoats85]

I'm not a commish, but..... some people in my league are talking about expanding, possibly for 2008. The thing is, nobody has any idea of what might happen as far as keeping players (we keep 6) and all that kind of stuff. It could have an enormous impact on in-season trades this year, and am I crazy for thinking it's an issue that needs to be addressed now before people start making all kinds of deals?

[MTUCache]

Definitely needs to be at least talked about before people start making concrete plans on keepers for next year.

So are you guys thinking about some kind of expansion draft? How's that going to work?

I'm thinking that there should be some kind of ranking system that each of the existing owners can use on his players... two untouchables, two "A" keepers, and two "B" keepers. The new owners put all of the "A" keepers in a hat and draw two each, and all the "B" keepers in a hat and draw three each (re-drawing once if they want to for a duplicate position).

Obviously, the teams who lose their "A" keepers in the expansion draft have the first picks in the real draft, then the teams who lost their "B" keepers, then the expansion teams, and then the rest of the league.

I dunno... just thinking this through. But yes, you definitely would need to know what's going to happen, so you know how likely you are to lose one of the studs on your team, if you are able to protect any of them 100% against the expansion, and what you'd be able to do to replace any of them if they are taken.

[pokerplaya]

We did this in my keeper league last year (year 4 going into year 5) and it was a complete success.

With 6 keepers, you are going to need to decide on a number that you can deem untouchable (as suggested) then the expansion teams will pick from what's left on your teams (no more than 1 player per team). Then you repeat the process until your expansion teams are reasonably balanced and competitive.

[captoats85]

There's just no idea of what might happen - that goes for any kind of expansion draft and plans for protecting players. I think people may be content to wait until AFTER the season to discuss this, even though it could screw people who make in-season trades now. Big mistake, if a league is expanding for 08, it better be discussed now.

[captoats85]

I'm a loss of words for this league. It's been two days since I brought the issue up, and practically nobody has responded to it or even acknowledged it. Several owners have checked into the site otherwise, but aren't saying anything about it. I talked to another guy on IM - one of the people who want expansion - and he did not acknowlege it either.

I don't get this league. Besides the people here, other outsiders all agree it needs to be discussed now.

Or am I nuts for thinking it?

[Oatsdad]

If you expand, I think you need to start over from scratch. What's the point of adding teams if they'll all be at a severe disadvantage because the "originals" already have so many of the best players?

[projectreturns]

You definately need to get this decided ASAP. Isn't a huge deal but the sooner the better.

Another thing you could do is just let that team have something like the first 10 picks in the reg draft next year so that their level of talent in depth balances out the lack of elite talent available for them. No expansion team should start of even footing anyway. It takes a bit for them to build their team up like in real life IMO. But I think that would be a much easier way to do it and with 6 keepers that means only 72 players will be takent so if they get to choose the first 10 players in the draft and then go into a regular cycle with the rest of the teams they will be fine.

[projectreturns]

also you could allow the expansion teams to keep 2 extra players or something like that for 2 years to help them out. Just a thought.

[whatevatreva88]

Yeah you probably should address the issue ASAP. The balance in the league might not be the same.