2011 SPIBL Expansion Plan

[samjjones]

Personally speaking, although I'm proud of the work we've done with SPIBL over the past few years, the 24 team league setup has grown a bit stale for me as a member. This is just a personal preference. I really prefer "realistic usage" types of leagues, and we've never really been able to get there to the degree that I like.

Its possible that if we decide to keep SPIBL at 24 teams, that I will step back from running SPIBL at some point, and will devote my energies towards a separate 30 team league.

This isn't meant as any sort of ultimatum or anything like that; unfortunately, I have very limited time to devote to leisure time activities, and I wouldn't want to do something that consumes as much of my time as running a league does unless I was really "in love" with it.

I've pushed for expansion for the last 4 offseasons now; it appears that we're still not at overwhelming agreement to do so. At some point, I have to stop tilting at windmills.

[Abnegazar]

There are some good points made here which do make me question whether we want to "change the league" by expansion and perhaps make it worse.

One thought, could be to expand by 4 teams, and if we decide to later, add a final 2. If not - then we could stay at 28 (basically two divisions of 5 and one division of 4 - and with three wildcards it shouldn't be too hard for a good team to still make the play-offs). A schedule could work with 28 teams...

Again, it comes down to dilution of talent and how easy it is for teams that are on the bottom echelon to come back to competitive state. It's tough right now (although Los Angeles, for example, is close to being back after just one year in the bottom). The thing is, the draft is already a little thin with 24 teams - how thin would it be with 28...or 30? That's something I can't answer. It definitely makes knowing the prospects better important - but also usage. It's just hard with Strat, because unlike real life, we don't have an "unlimited" supply of players...and that to me is the biggest issue.

Either way, I slightly favour expansion, but perhaps by only four teams - although Todd Melton's post concerns me. I don't want to see the league integrity compromised.

[melt12]

Perhaps a compromise of expanding to 28 first to see how it goes is the way to go. I think lots of owners are very happy with the league but if the commish would like to see expansion, maybe its best done in phases.

[StanKArtistman]

I agree that Mike's plan for expansion is well thought-out. Personally, I am in favor of expansion. I share the same concerns that everyone else has voiced and agree that we should transition into expansion by going to a 28-team league first (adding two teams to each league). We could then feel out when to add two more teams to get to 30 (perhaps a year or two later).