ZFL expansion discussion/decisions

[revrew]

Time for current owners and prospective owners to talk a little expansion!

Here are a few guidelines for discussion:

1. As commish, and as I carry the brunt of time commitment for running the ZFL, all expansion decisions ultimately fall to me. I hope we can reach agreement on this, but I reserve the right to make or veto final decisions.

2. This year's expansion (if any) will be limited out of necessity to two teams.

3. The league will remain in one conference, the most likely twist to the schedule being a longer season to accomodate the expansion teams.

Now, just a few of my thoughts which do not at this point constitute decisions:

a. I think after two successful seasons we are primed for expansion. I'm currently in favor of bringing in two new teams.

b. I'm torn on who to grant franchises to between "first come first serve" based on those who expressed interest right away in season 1, or with those ZFL fans who have made it a point to follow the league and participate outside of ownership. In the latter group, JeeberD and Katon (is that the right name?) stand out. But perhaps there are faithful readers who simply haven't posted. Hmmm, how shall we choose who gets a club?

c. I'm currrently in favor of an expansion draft where players leave so many unprotected and can only lose so many. (5 and 3 seem reasonable numbers. In which case, 15 rounds of draft between the two expansion clubs seems reasonable.) If we need to insist that current GMs cannot expose anyone over a certain age, I see that as a fair practice.

d. I see merit in allowing the expansion teams to draft #1 and #2 overall. I might be persuaded to allow them to draft twice in the first instead.

d. I'm in favor of expanding the draft to 4 rounds to accomodate the need for additional players. I've also retained the undrafteds from last year and can reenter them into the pool. I would not do that in future, non-expansion years.

e. As for the season, I forsee either an 11-week season, or (this is just for fun, see what you think), a 10-week season. TIn the 10-week season, the last place team from the previous year being exempted from playing the champs, the next to last from playing the second place finisher, etc.

[sachmo71]

So if we expanded by two teams, we could just extend the season to allow all teams to play each other once per season?

[illinifan999]

Whew. here we go:

The last head count showed that we had about 6 people interested in teams.

I think that we most need to look at if the person is on frequently, so that during the draft we don't have to wait too long for someone to make their pick. Otherwise maybe the only other way is if every ZFL owner either met on IRC, or something like that or sent revrew a PM stating which team they think shoud get let in. The only problem with that is that it might turn into a popularity contest.

With the draft. I'm ok with letting the expansion teams getting the first two picks, but how are you deciding who gets one and who gets two? I really like the idea of a 4th round, so take that for what it's worth. I guess I like the leave 5 unprotected, and 3 max taken. I don't really like it since that means I will lose probably at least one starter.

That's all I can think of right now.

[revrew]

Originally posted by illinifan999
Whew. here we go:

The last head count showed that we had about 6 people interested in teams.

I think that we most need to look at if the person is on frequently, so that during the draft we don't have to wait too long for someone to make their pick. Otherwise maybe the only other way is if every ZFL owner either met on IRC, or something like that or sent revrew a PM stating which team they think shoud get let in. The only problem with that is that it might turn into a popularity contest.

Would you remind us who those 6 were, illini? It might help. I'm also hoping this thread will bring some of those 6 out of the woodwork, and we may get an idea of who is going to be active in the league if given opportunity to join.

And sachmo, if we go to 11-week, then it will still be round-robin style. There simply is no way to introduce conference play and playoffs until we get up to about 16-20 teams. Unless we decide to play 5-game seasons. Otherwise, the mathematical process by which victors are decided would take all the suspense out of it. Wanna know who wins this playoff game? Just look at who won the regular season matchup. The score would be the same.

So, yes, we can just expand it from a 9-week season to an 11-week season.

[NAIWF]

Again, I want to express my interest in joining up. I had the New York franchise. I haven't posted my thoughts mainly because the EVIL, EVIL Chiacgo franchise had been dominating and well as my mother taught me "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"

[illinifan999]

Ok:
In a thread I posted about info for an expansion team these people gave me the info:

Shorty3281
bertograce
NAIWF
JeeberD
Katon

RonnieDobbs said he was interested but didn't give me the info.
MylesKnight said he was interested back in the sign-up thread along with BishopMVP and NAIWF.

[illinifan999]

Evil Chicago franchise. You are the evil one my friend.

{crosses New York off of possible expansion cities}

[digamma]

I say we give the franchises to whichever two applicants offer revrew the most money.

Or we could do it by a vote. If we vote, my tallies are officially up for sale to the two highest bidders.

And, I think I am for the round robin 11-week schedule.

[Katon]

As I said before, I'm interested.

Availability-wise, I'm on at least once a day, usually more often. There's a bit of a time difference, but I don't think that would really be much of a problem.

[bertogarce]

Let me state again for the record that I would be honored to have an expansion franchise. You all have a great league and I'll continue to follow whether I'm awarded a team or not. I thank youn for your consideration.

As a refresher, here's the expansion bid I posted in the other thread:

----------------------

City: Denver, Colorado

Nickname (narrowed down to 3): Altitude, Stampede, Hippie Lettuce

Stadium name: 1.6093 Kilometer-Hi Stadium

Some notes about the group/wealthy person trying to obtain the franchise: Tired of living in his brother's shadow, Ron Elway, the lesser known and MUCH less-successful Elway brother, decides to beat his older bro at his own game. Organizing a group of investors comprised of other 2nd-fiddle brothers, including Bruce Buffer, Roger Clinton, Frank Stallone, etc., Ron Elway submits a bid to bring Denver its newest sports franchise. At his press conference announcing the expansion bid, Ron made the following comments, "John may have won a couple of Super Bowls for Denver, but what I'm going to do will make that seem like nothing. Ok, I'll take some questions…No, John will not be here today…Wait, why is everyone leaving!?!?"

[revrew]

What we may have to do is see who will be active in participation (those early candidates who are also posting here are good candidates), and then allow the Rook cards to decide.

Of course, the idea about offering me some cash has its appeal too...

[NAIWF]

*Slips revrew a $20, ahh, why not make it $100. Also sends each existing ZFL team except Chicago a bribe as well*

[korme]

i am on fofc generally from 3-12PM on and off on the weekdays

<--expansion owner/enthusiast

[BishopMVP]

Sorry about not responding to that thread 2 weeks ago. I usually only check the dynasty section every 2-3 days. Even though I rarely respond, I have read almost all the ZFL stuff. As for my response time during drafts, you can look back to the NFL Mock Draft thread to see that I fulfill my commitments there. If you choose to go with JeeberD and Katon simply because they are more active and talkative that's your call, but I would like to be considered. Here is my proposed expansion information:

City: Boston

Nickname: Braves (Tribute to all the old Boston teams, now the Atlanta Braves and Washington Redskins)

Stadium Name: King Philip Stadium (Everything else around here is named after somebody, and if I'm going to name the team the Braves, the stadium name should go to the most famous Chief.)

Owner: A reclusive genius not much is known about, the new owner reportedly said that this would "help him take over the text-sim universe, and then, the world!" But then again, he also was disgusted when the New England Patriots released Micheal Bishop and made Tom Brady the backup. Seriously, what does Bill Belichick know about offense?

Also, initial reports that a silent partner by the name of TexasPsycho would help "upgrade" the team to make them competitive in Season 1 are completely false.

[illinifan999]

Chicago will vote for New York if it recieves a "belated" bribe.

Seriously all the owners need to meet in IRC, AIM, or something to discuss this.

[DolphinFan1]

Here was my idea I sent to Revrew a few weeks ago for expansion.

ZFL Expansion Idea
I've been thinking this over tonight at work. Here is my idea on expansion. Feel free to edit, add, or ignore this if it's too hard or not a good idea. If you think it may work you may post it so the other league GMs can see it.

We have 10 teams in the league right now and all but one have 21 players. I assume we are talking about 2 expansion teams and all in one league. So an 11 game schedule. Each existing team will expose 5 players to the expansion draft and at least two players must be "C" rated or higher. They can be any age. The two expansion teams will each pick 15 players. Every team will lose only 3 players. Existing teams will have 18 players after the expansion draft and the new teams will have 15.

Regular year end draft:
Existing teams will pick once each round like normal based on record. Expansion teams will pick twice each round, at the beginning and end of each round. Then each team will have 21 players.

Now people may say that the expansion teams will get crappy players in the expansion draft. But that isn't much different than most of the bottom tier teams had in year one. And they pick twice each round and that should level out their roster.

I'm not sure that your draft is deep enough to handle 42 picks. But that's my idea. Let me know what you think. Thanks. DolphinFan1

[DolphinFan1]

Originally posted by bertogarce
Let me state again for the record that I would be honored to have an expansion franchise. You all have a great league and I'll continue to follow whether I'm awarded a team or not. I thank youn for your consideration.

As a refresher, here's the expansion bid I posted in the other thread:

----------------------

City: Denver, Colorado

Nickname (narrowed down to 3): Altitude, Stampede, Hippie Lettuce

Stadium name: 1.6093 Kilometer-Hi Stadium

Some notes about the group/wealthy person trying to obtain the franchise: Tired of living in his brother's shadow, Ron Elway, the lesser known and MUCH less-successful Elway brother, decides to beat his older bro at his own game. Organizing a group of investors comprised of other 2nd-fiddle brothers, including Bruce Buffer, Roger Clinton, Frank Stallone, etc., Ron Elway submits a bid to bring Denver its newest sports franchise. At his press conference announcing the expansion bid, Ron made the following comments, "John may have won a couple of Super Bowls for Denver, but what I'm going to do will make that seem like nothing. Ok, I'll take some questions…No, John will not be here today…Wait, why is everyone leaving!?!?"

I like this. It's original.

[illinifan999]

Only thing that I dont like about Dolphin's idea is that the expansion team's get two picks each round. I think it should just be one pick per round unless you trade for more. I mean the original 10 had to start out with no reserves, I think the expansion teams should too. Just my thoughts, otherwise it seems pretty good.

[Nyarlahotep]

I would like to announce my bid for future expansion.

City: Arkham, Rhode Island

Possible Nicknames: Avengers, Elder Ones, Arkhamians

Stadium Name: Miskatonic Field

Notes about potential owner/s: Nyarlahotep showed up in Arkham with a soccer team a few months ago. No record of him before that has been found. His source (and amount) of his wealth is unknown. Rumors have surfaced that he been expanding his team's stadium in order to hide what is going on beneath the stadium. It is believed that he is searching for something, but if anyone knows what he is looking for, they have not made it known to the public. It is said that his soccer team's mascot ( who was unveiled shortly after his stadium expansion began) has a costume that is incredibly realistic looking.

[DolphinFan1]

Originally posted by illinifan999
Only thing that I dont like about Dolphin's idea is that the expansion team's get two picks each round. I think it should just be one pick per round unless you trade for more. I mean the original 10 had to start out with no reserves, I think the expansion teams should too. Just my thoughts, otherwise it seems pretty good.

Like I said, feel free to edit or change what may not work. What does everyone else think?

[sachmo71]

Well if the new guys get to pick their city, can I move my franchise to Dallas?

[illinifan999]

No, you have to stay in San Antonio! If you move to Dallas I might not be able to beat you anymore.

[revrew]

Regarding drafting twice per round by expansion clubs:

Pretty much a lock at this point that we will have 4 rounds of drafting. If the expansion clubs get #1 and 2, then I don't see any need of double drafting, save maybe in a later round. If we decide against them getting 1 and 2 (there was resistance earlier), then I suggest we give them double picks in the first round. So far, giving two expansions the top two picks is winning out.

[tucker342]

I say the people that want new teams, put their info here and than we have a vote.

How about we wait till next year, till after I get a good QB.

[tucker342]

[tucker342]

how about we make a thread only for perspective teams to post their team info, so that the info is easy to find when we make a vote...

or something

[JeeberD]

Well, y'all know that I would love to have a team. I've been following the league since its beginning and feel that I've been pretty active with it (and a hearty thanks is due to DolphinFan1 for making it even more interesting for me). And I feel I'm overly qualified on the "on FOFC frequently" requirement since I apparently have no life and am always on here...

I hope y'all decide to make me a fellow owner!

Here's my post from the original Expansion thread:

City: El Paso

Nicknames (narrowed down to 3): Miners, Generals, Cowboys

Stadium name: The Desert

Some notes about the group/wealthy person trying to obtain the franchise: JeeberD wasn't happy just being a starting CB for the Milwaukee MuscleMen. He wanted to be in charge of a team. He decided to use the overly generous singing bonus that DolphinFan foolishly gave him (and everyone wonders why they were the worst team in the league last year... ) and invest it in his own team. He felt that El Paso would be a great place for a new team, since that's his home town and because there's no competition for the football dollar there. JeeberD realizes that he's not going to be in the league as a player for very long, and he wants to make his mark in other areas of the ZFL arena...

Oh, and if each of the current crop of ZFL owners (as well as Commish revrew) will look underneath their computer desks right now, you'll find an envelope taped underneath it. Just think of the contents as a friendly gift from the "El Paso loves the ZFL!" foundation...

[illinifan999]

Well, it depends. Whoever will trade their first pick to me gets my vote.

[Katon]

Here's a reprint of the team info I posted in the other thread.

City: London, England

Nickname: Toffees, Gunners, Magpies

Stadium Name: Wembley Stadium

Owner: All that software magnate Gordon Way wants from life is to own a football team. If there aren't any available in England, he'll just get one in the States. After all, it's still the same game, right?


As far as 'league funding contributions' go, Mr. Way tells me that he took care of them personally. You should find them in . . .

Oh dear. According to his note, the 'contributions' are "stuffed into each team's goalie's gloves." Oops. This could be a problem. Still, the 'donations' shouldn't be too hard to find, right?

[sachmo71]

Rev, do you have an idea on when we will vote on whether we want to actually expand the league?

[bertogarce]

Since it sounds like bribes may be accepted, for any owner who votes for the Denver franchise, I've been informed by potential owner Ron Elway that he has a shiny one dollar bill he's willing to part with. (Ron did not inherit his brother John's business sense)