S20 Expansion Announcement

[Canadice]

Edited to clarify some aspects of the application process and Assistant Managers.

Expansion

Over the past couple of seasons, we have seen a record breaking number of players joining the SSL. This season alone, we introduced 78 (at the time of writing) S20 players, requiring us to expand the Academy from four to eight teams. The BoD continuously keeps track of the number of active players and the number of organizations to make sure that the new players have a fair chance at a starting position in either the Major or Minor league. Prior to this amazing season of new recruits, the number of active players per organization had already reached the max number (two rosters of 11 starting positions) per organization, and with the influx of 50+ more active players, we have far exceeded that limit.

To accommodate this growth in the SSL leagues, we will be opening applications for two expansion Manager applications which will create another 44 starting roster spots for the upcoming season. The expansion organizations will consist of a pair of Major and Minor affiliates, giving both the Major and Minor leagues 10 teams in total. For more information on how to apply, please check out the job post announcement.

If you want to apply for an expansion organization together with an Assistant Manager, you may do so ONLY if you follow these steps:

1. Talk to your own Organizational Manager that you intend to apply for an expansion organization.
2. Approach the Organizational Manager where your desired co-applicant is under contract and get permission to talk to the user. If you do not get permission, you may not apply together.
3. Send in an application together with the co-applicant.

If the desired co-applicant is an Academy player, you do not need permission from anyone to talk to them.

Effects on the Draft(s)
If the co-applicant is a non-Academy player, they must be drafted in the second round of the Expansion Draft.

If the co-applicant is an Academy player (with no retiring player in the SSL), they must be drafted with the expansion organization's 7/8 OA pick in the S20 Prospect Draft.

The Surrounding Discussion
While discussing this topic we took into consideration both the need for additional roster spots as well as the workload requirement needed to actually run an expanded league in this capacity. The heaviest workload increase will be on the sim team and while we recently have signed up one additional simmer, we will happily accept more applications to join the team if you are interested. More information about the requirements of the role can be found here.

As we are gearing up for the biggest Prospect Draft to date, we have also used the number of active players in each current organization as a baseline for how many players that should/could be picked in the Expansion Draft, opening up more roster slots within the current organizations. Before the Expansion Draft will take place, most current organizations have between 20-24 active players meaning that they have very little room for acquiring new talent to slot into the starting roster spots, while the new expansion organizations will be required to use draft picks well into the deeper rounds. This is a draft pick value discrepancy that we have also taken into account in our decisions.

Another aspect of expansion is the inevitable excitement or apprehension of possibly moving from your current organization to a new one. The BoD has been discussing in-depth how to both give the expansion organization a base of players to build a good locker room while also giving current organizations the chance to retain their own locker room culture.

Taking all of this into account, the BoD has decided the following:

Expansion Draft

• The Expansion Draft will consist of 12 rounds where Expansion Organizations first pick 1 player from each current organization in the first 8 rounds and then 1 player from four different organizations each.
  
• Expansion Managers will have to draft their players during the expansion draft's first round
  
• This means that every current organization will lose 3 players each and the expansion organizations will consist of 12 players each at the conclusion of the Expansion Draft.
  

Protection Lists

• Every current organization will be able to send in a protection list of at most 11 players which includes their Organizational and Assistant Managers as well as players signed with an NMC clause for S19, unless the NMC is waived in accordance with the Rulebook or if the player is an assigned Manager for the expansion organization.
  
• Retiring players are excluded from both protection and exposed lists. If an exposed player retires after the protection list deadline (TBA), they will not be exposed for the purpose of the Expansion Draft.
  
• A retiring manager player must still be protected. A retiring expansion manager must still be picked and will count as one pick from that organization.
  
• Any player exposed and later picked by an expansion organization may not return to the original organization in Free Agency for the next FOUR (4) subsequent seasons (S20-S23). This includes exposed pending Free Agents for S20, who are considered part of the organization they were under contract with at the time of the protection list deadline in S19.
  
• If a selected player chooses to retire during S19 or S20, the expansion organization is given a compensatory pick in the S21 Prospect Draft between the 1st and 2nd round (picks starting at 11).
  Any subsequent retired player for the same expansion organization will give another compensatory pick in the S21 Prospect draft between the 2nd/3rd round, 3rd/4th round etc.
  

Trades

• Any trades between organizations are frozen from the period of the protection list deadline to the end of the Expansion Draft.
  
• We allow trades pertaining to the Expansion Draft between expansion and current organizations prior to the start of the Expansion Draft. These trades are exempt from the trading freeze.
  
• All trades between expansion and current organizations must be sent from both participating organizations in their respective organization rooms to the BoD for approval prior to the Expansion Draft starting.
  

Prospect Draft

• The expansion organizations will be given the 1st and 2nd picks in each round, the reverse order from the Expansion Draft pick order as well as picks 7 and 8 in each round, reversing the order of pick 1 and 2.
  

An example of the pick order looks like this:

Code:

1st Round
EXP1
EXP2
8
7
6
5
EXP2
EXP1
4
3
2
1

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The BoD reserves the right to amend the rules if there are any unforeseen issues or something that we have missed.


Canadice and the Board of Directors

[Canadice]

The post has been updated with the following:

Application process

If you want to apply for an expansion organization together with an Assistant Manager, you may do so ONLY if you follow these steps:

1. Talk to your own Organizational Manager that you intend to apply for an expansion organization.
2. Approach the Organizational Manager where your desired co-applicant is under contract and get permission to talk to the user. If you do not get permission, you may not apply together.
3. Send in an application together with the co-applicant.

If the desired co-applicant is an Academy player, you do not need permission from anyone to talk to them.

Effects on the Draft(s)
If the co-applicant is a non-Academy player, they must be drafted in the second round of the Expansion Draft.

If the co-applicant is an Academy player (with no retiring player in the SSL), they must be drafted with the expansion organization's 7/8 OA pick in the S20 Prospect Draft.

Protection Lists

- A retiring manager player must still be protected. A retiring expansion manager must still be picked and will count as one pick from that organization.

- If a selected player chooses to retire during S19 or S20, the expansion organization is given a compensatory pick in the S21 Prospect Draft between the 1st and 2nd round (picks starting at 11).
Any subsequent retired player for the same expansion organization will give another compensatory pick in the S21 Prospect draft between the 2nd/3rd round, 3rd/4th round etc.