Originally posted by Brett Snyder
Originally posted by todd_terps_62
I think as far as the caps go it should be a signing cap, not a hard cap on levels. I'm pretty sure they have a system like this in place for 16 caps, so why not expand the rule? A league such as BBB should have a signing cap of say level 30 (Round number for arguments sake, could go a few levels either way). It would be best to fairly substantial jumps as you move up the ranks, so in A Leagues I would say level 40 (again, round number), 50 for AA, and take the caps off for AAA and Pro. Maybe a few levels either way like, 27, 38, 50 or 27, 40, 52 or 32, 44, 56 or whatever.
This allows you to sign advanced players, but doesn't allow you to get too far ahead of the curve. It would allow a team to 'grow' with the players they signed early, allow guys to boost without fear of 'going over the cap', as long as they continue to sign extensions. That way you could have a few high level guys that stay with you, but when you fill in the gaps for STs and the bench it won't be all level 36 LBs forcing fumbles every kick off.
Would there be some teams, like ours, that signs guys in the high teens and early 20's the first season? Sure, but some sound game-planning will avoid blow outs against teams that take the other route of signing all their players close to or at the cap. There would also be teams that would exploit the system by signing at the 30 cap, boosting early, getting promoted, let themselves get shelled all season in A, sign a butt load of 40's right before the playoffs end, get demoted and then absolutely dominate BBB with all level 43 guys. But those guys are tools.
Most of us don't want every team to be exactly the same level, just closer then say, Ontario and Alberta. Gutted teams are a different discussion, but the massive out leveling just sucks. If a team gets demoted here and they still have a butt load of level 40's, at least then I'd know their game planning sucks. Right now, I couldn't tell you how good Moose Jaw's or Alberta's game planning is because we never stood a chance.
Do you know how hard it is to rebuild a tam after you just won a championship in a capped league then got pumped up to a uncapped league or, higher capped league? Its hard as hell.
Should it be 'easy'? What's the fun in that? If you went under the structure I proposed, you would have to win in a 30 cap league, go to a 40 cap league, go to a 50 cap league and then go to an uncapped AAA league and then maybe Pro. Let's go step by step.
You want to 'Win now' in BBB. You sign all level 30 guys and boost. All your guys are now 33's. With natural leveling you make it to about 36 (??? I haven't had guys that long to know the answer) by the end of the season. You get promoted to the level 40 cap league. You already have a roster of 36's. What kind of competition will be in the level 40 league. Potentially there are four or so types of teams.
1) Teams in the exact situation you are in. If you boost early (don't know if its a good/bad idea because I don't know the XP difference for a level 36 vs. 39) you now have all your old guys that you want to be loyal to at level 39, one below the cap. You should be able to be 'competitive' with solid game plans and win your fair share of games. Bad game planners will get stomped and be relegated. See original post.
2) Teams that were like your team last year. They started last season with 36-39 guys and maybe recruited some 40's. The season you get there, they'll be somewhere around 40-45 (depending on boosting on not) so you are not massively out leveled. If you are a better game planner, you still have a shot even if it isn't a great one.
3) Teams that have been stuck there for years. This is why I think this is a non-issue. Sure they may already have guys pushing up to level 50, but their game planning obviously sucks ass. Seriously, if you have a team full of high 40's and can beat guys in the mid-high 30's, you should not be running a team. So what if these teams stick together, mired in level A. You'll beat them the second season when you players are closer in levels, or their talent will eventually carry them to AA where you can laugh as they get their ass kicked repeatedly. But realistically, 50's aren't going to stick around with a crappy management team, they're too close to retirement age and only have a few good seasons left before sliding back.
4) Teams that got demoted. If they have good game planning and a team full of 50's from just being in AA, they will only be there for one season. If their just a bad team, they'll have targets on their backs.
So to sum up. You may not win right away in this first level up, but if you're halfway competent, you'll stick around for the next season. That 2nd season you'll have teams like your own, teams with higher levels than you that are beatable and maybe a team or two that doesn't belong (but not by much).
As for promotion from A to AA, there aren't a lot of guys over 50 in the game anyway, so if you made it through, miraculously, in your first season, you'd have a team full of 45's (on average) in a league that will still look similar to your team. The four types of teams I listed above still holds water, just a few levels higher. Most likely it will take two seasons, so you'll be right on target with the levels. And once you get to uncapped leagues, well then the real fun begins.
It would simultaneously reward teams for keeping and resigning the players they want to be loyal to, and keep high level free agents from simply dropping down a few leagues to be 'dominant'. All of this while keeping the competition relatively close. Sure, on the extremes of each league there will be, say, a team of 29-30s and a team of 38-40s, but that's better then 16s vs. 45s as you sometimes have now.
So what if under my plan you have to work for it a little. What's wrong with that. Everyone can't dominate every league every year. The only people who absolutely need to crush everyone all the time are maladjusted light weights that were always picked last for kickball and Meatheads that won everything from 2nd grade on because they hit all their growth spurts first, not because they were actually good or practiced.
