At first when I read this idea I thought it was a little ridiculous, but for some reason it stuck in the back of my head and I kept thinking about how a true “elimination” league would work.
At first I was afraid all a league like that would do would guarantee the same top 10 owners that commish and win all the existing leagues (and mostly dominating the message boards, you know who they are) would be the only ppl winning a league like this. There is probably no getting around that.
The initial idea was simple enough that the worst team(s) would get kicked each season and allow new blood to join. It was pointed out that a few ppl tend to leave every league each season for various reasons, but often it is mostly the stragglers anyway. I have a couple divergent thoughts here. What if this elimination league was actually a “champions” league AND a “feeder” league? That would involve cohesive management of 2 leagues, a full 64 independent owners battling it out where the champions of the “minor” league would be the replacement owners for the losers in the “major” league. Another post recently pointed out there are approximately 300 managers in this game currently, so 64 would be a pretty significant chunk, but also it stands to reason that a farm system league like this could be expanded to include basically everyone. 9 or 10 levels where a true meritocracy creates the ultimate MFN “leaderboard”. I’m sure there’s no way to get everyone on board for something like this, realistically probably getting half of us to agree on anything is a pipe dream.
There is another question I have about administration. Is it possible to be commissioner of a league if you do not have a team in it? Theoretically whoever creates a league like this could find themselves as the odd man out eventually. I have not tried to run a league here, so I do not know how any of that would work. Could one commish oversee multiple levels, or would different admin be needed for each league of a feeder system?
And finally, there would need to be rules regarding “scorched earth” rosters for every team. A champion of the minor league can’t take that roster with them to the next level, but that “loser” in the champion league should be prevented from sabatoging that teams chances for the future season. I don’t know how to police this, if an owner wasn’t going to get booted for a losing season they have the incentive to rebuild by trading assets and acquiring draft picks to get better, what happens when you know you don’t get that chance at redemption? I’d like to think we could all behave like professionals, but I’m trying not to laugh out loud as I type that.
Anyway, as you can see, Ive been hooked by the possibility of something grander than a single league championship, but I don’t know if it’s possible in this reality.
Last edited at 2/21/2022 6:26 pm
