SFL Communications
December 18, 2018
The Simulation Football League presented by APM Music has ruled on four topics this off-season:
- What determines a “Final and Official Contract
- Announcing Players
- Hiring Staff
- Atlanta’s salary cap situation
“I am pleased with the progress our Competition Committee is making as a unit,” said Commissioner Cameron Irvine. “This Committee is a lot of hard work, but if you’re truly passionate about being able to impact the SFL in positive ways – a new election is on the horizon at the start of the year. The Committee takes these matters seriously with great thought and I commend them on their league-first mentality and their ability to grow as their term has matured.”
The following are Competition Committee rulings from this off-season:
Definition of a “Final and Official Contract”
Once finalized, a player may not change teams as they are officially committed. A contract is considered “final and official” when both team and player have agreed to the contract in the Group DM with the league and the Director of Player Personnel has added the player to the roster. At this time, the contract cannot be canceled or otherwise voided by the player or team. Extenuating circumstances can be brought to the League Office and a ruling will be made.
Clarification of the Announcement Rule
§4.3 Announcing Players
Owner/Exempt Staff Player (GM, HC, OC, DC): A team or user may reference the future signing of a player belonging to a staff member in an exempt role through social media and other public avenues, but must wait for a signing announcement from the league for official confirmation. If a player departs any of these roles or loses his exemption, any previously submitted contract is voided. The contract may be resubmitted subject to the appropriate rules for the players new circumstance. Transfers from one exempt role to another does not void a contract.
Non-Exempt Staff Player: A team or user may not reference the future signing of a player belonging to a staff member in a non-exempt role. They must wait for a signing announcement by the league before making any reference to the player in question.
User Player: A team or user may not reference the future signing of a player belonging to an ordinary user. They must wait for a signing announcement by the league before making any reference to the player in question.
Player signings are considered official at the point when the Director of Player Personnel confirms that the player has been added to a team roster. At this point, the contract can only be voided by one of the above violations.
In order to ease player management and assist owners and GM’s in accounting for eligible free agents, information on player signings will be provided in advance to the front office channel. This is NOT considered a signing announcement on the part of the league, and sharing of privileged information will be punishable per the SFL Code of Conduct. Signings can only be officially announced by the league in the signings channel.
Hiring Staff
Free Agents may not be added to a team before the Free Agent Signing Period to take a staff position unless that staff position is General Manager, Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, or Defensive Coordinator.
Rookies may not be added to a team before the Draft to take a staff position unless that position is General Manager, Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, or Defensive Coordinator.
As Non-Exempt staff are only permitted to be hired during the signing period for free agents and rookies, the League strongly encourages teams and users to wait until a player signing announcement is made before referencing a future hiring decision or making a staff hiring announcement.
In circumstances where the league determines that a violation has been made of the above rule, then that player may not join that team in any capacity for the current season. The League may make this decision unilaterally, or can opt to refer a decision on a matter of interest to the Competition Committee or Ownership Group where it deems appropriate.
Atlanta Swarm cap
The league accepted Atlanta Swarm’s plea to bring to the Competition Committee their salary cap situation, in an attempt to receive some sort of exemption to current rules on the book, since Atlanta’s cornerback market in free agency dried up. Given their chosen build with the players available, Atlanta’s cap situation left them over 26 points of cap. They asked the committee to review the situation to see if there was a way they deemed fit to assist them in reaching max cap outside of the current ruleset. However, in a 5-0 vote (both Atlanta members of the committee were recused), the committee decided that Atlanta needed to adhere to the current rules to reach cap. They recommended that the team change their build and sign a WR in order to get within 10 points of the salary cap.. In choosing to keep their build, plus the two rules that are currently on the books restricting cap adjustments (within five points rule + UDFA signing rule) the Committee ruled no exception could be made to Atlanta’s cap shortages. This ruling sets the precedent that if a team elects to keep a specific team build, rather than get closer to max cap when given the opportunity – that team is foregoing opportunities within its control to reach cap and is responsible for that decision.
