Expansion Procedure and Other Important Changes for 2003

 

These is the expansion procedure and other important changes for 2003 that were voted on and passed last year:

 

  1. Expand by 4 teams to 20 in 2003. The expansion teams would be designated XP1, XP2, XP3, and XP4, with the designation determined by lots. The expansion would be done in the following stages:

a)      The 4 expansion teams would draft 5-man taxi squads in 2002. The expansion teams would draft at the beginning of each round of the taxi draft, followed by the 16 existing teams. The expansion teams would draft in the order XP1-XP2-XP3-XP4 in odd rounds (1,3,5) and XP4-XP3-XP2-XP1 in even rounds (2,4). All normal taxi squad restrictions (like no trading) apply.

b)     There would be an expansion draft at the end of the 2002 season, at the time of the 2003 20-man protect lists. The existing 16 teams would begin by protecting 8 players each. The four expansion teams then draft 8 players each. The players drafted must be from existing team’s 35 man rosters, but no more than 2 players can be taken from any one of the existing 16 teams. The expansion teams draft in the order XP1-XP2-XP3-XP4-XP4-XP3-XP2-XP1 (4 times). After the expansion teams each have 8 players, the existing 16 teams protect 8 more, giving them a total of 16. The expansion teams then draft 8 more, again from the 2002 35 man rosters with no more than 2 from any one of the existing teams. The order would be XP4-XP3-XP2-XP1-XP1-XP2-XP3-XP4 (4 times). The existing teams then protect their final 4 players to give them a total of 20. At this time players from the taxi squad can be promoted to the 20 man roster, and the existing teams also do all of their other taxi squad transactions, including the injured reserve transfer, if desired. After the existing teams have the 20-man protect lists and taxi squad transactions completed, the expansion teams draft 4 more players each. These players can come from either a 35 man roster, or from any released taxi squad players. There is no restriction on how many can come off of any roster. The expansion teams also have the option of promoting players from their own taxi squads (drafted in 2002 as per a. above). The order would be XP1-XP2-XP3-XP4-XP4-XP3-XP2-XP1 (twice). After the expansion teams have their 20 man protect lists, they can release players from their taxi squads into the draft pool (they cannot make an injured reserve transfer, however). This would mean that the expansion teams have eight players who were the 9th and 10th best on existing rosters, and eight more who were the 19th and 20th best, going into the 2003 draft.

c)      The expansion teams then join the regular 2003 draft and will compete in the 2003 season. The expansion teams will draft after the 10 teams who do not make the playoffs in 2002, and before the 6 teams that do make the playoffs, in each round. The order of the expansion teams will be XP1-XP2-XP3-XP4 in even rounds and XP4-XP3-XP2-XP1 in odd numbered rounds.

d)     Expansion draft picks cannot be traded, however after the expansion draft the expansion teams can trade players and regular 2003 draft picks subject to the normal rules.

 

  1. The league will split into 4 divisions in 2003, each containing 5 teams.

 

  1. The schedule for 2003 will have 18 games each vs. your division and 6 games each vs. the other three divisions for a total of 162, with 5-4-4-5 series breakdown in your division as per a schedule previously submitted by Craig.

 

  1. The draft order for existing teams in 2003 will change to order of finish: 7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,6,5,4,3,2,1. This takes away the enticement to lose as many games as possible in order to ensure a good draft position. Secretary’s note: 7-16 are the teams not making the playoffs, 1-6 are the teams who do make the playoffs.

 

Additional Considerations:

 

  1. To get the expansion teams involved and not have them sitting on the sidelines, I plan on having a “mock” expansion draft sometime in Aril and then have the expansion teams play an abbreviated season among themselves. The mock expansion draft would be sometime in April so that the expansion teams could observe how the league operated for a couple of months. The existing teams would rank their current players, 1 through 8 would be kept out of the expansion draft, the rest would be available. NOTE: THIS WOULD BE A NON-BINDING DRAFT. The expansion teams would only be using these players for this year to get managerial experience. They would retain no rights to those players when the real expansion draft takes place after the 2002 season. The “mock” expansion draft would be held in the same manner as the real one will be at the end of this year. Expansion teams would pick up to 8 players, but no more than 2 from any one team, then the next 8 highest ranking players would be protected for the existing teams. Then the expansion teams pick 8 more, the existing teams protect the next 4 highest ranking players, and the expansion teams pick 4 more. Then the expansion teams would pick 5 more players to get up to a roster of 25. This would be their entire roster for the expansion season. That way there will be not majors or minors. Trades could take place between the expansion teams, provided an equal number of players were swapped from each team, so as to maintain a 25 man roster.

 

  1. The expansion teams would then play a 5 month schedule (May through September) with 12 games each month, 4 vs. each of the other three expansion teams. There would be a trade deadline after month 3. There should be some sort of reward based on the order of finish. At the very least, they teams could get to pick the division they will play in for 2003. We could even let the draft order be based on the order of finish (with it still alternating as prescribed in the expansion rules).

 

  1. Of course, we still need to come up with a re-alignment plan for the existing teams and a new playoff structure.