SFL Communications
November 17, 2022
The annual owner meetings took place over the last week following Baltimore’s third-straight Championship victory. One rule did receive enough votes for a change:
Proposal 3: (Rule Change) Allow owners to have OL players. PASSED – Received 87% of votes. Needed 67%
Options for enacting rule:
Option A: Allow Owners to be OL coaches and control multiple OL players.
PASSED – Option B: Allow Owners to be OL players only and they cannot control more than 1 OL player in a given season.
Option B received 67% of the vote.
The most discussion from the meetings surrounded backups entering games and – in one particular case – starters not returning when the score margin gets within one score, or eight points. This specific error is possible when a team leads by 16 points with 2:05 to play. If a team scores a touchdown and a two-point conversion inside of two minutes, the starters on both sides of the ball will never re-enter the game, even if the game is tied, goes to overtime, or the team that previously led now trails. This exact situation has occurred twice in league history, or .001% of simulations.
Upon further analysis, the league was able to identify through intensive testing when exactly backups enter the game.
2:05 left, 16-point margin
2:15 left, 17-point margin
2:20 left, 18-point margin
2:30 left, 19-point margin
2:35 left, 20-point margin
2:45 left, 21-point margin
2:55 left, 22-point margin
3:00 left, 23-point margin
3:10 left, 24-point margin
3:15 left, 25-point margin
3:25 left, 26-point margin
3:35 left, 27-point margin
3:40 left, 28-point margin
3:50 left, 29-point margin
3:55 left, 30-point margin
4:05 left, 31-point margin
4:15 left, 32-point margin
4:20 left, 33-point margin
4:30 left, 34-point margin or any larger lead
In some instances, what yard line the ball is on can also determine the threshold for backups entering the game, but only in some situations and variables of only 5-10 seconds difference. In some camps, mercy rules were discussed and a proposal that the game is called in the situation of the 16-point lead with 2:05 to play was approved to make the ballot, but the proposal was ultimately pulled. In Season 20, the league will continue to count these games as wins for the team with the most points at the end of the game, just like any other and will continue to review possible options for eliminating the issue altogether. Since the game uses these time and score thresholds to determine when backups should enter, it is not possible to override this code without the constant use of a controller.
Other proposals that failed:
Proposal 1: (Rule Change) Owner players may only occupy positions on the depth chart that would be considered for 2-way players (non-starting roles).
REJECTED – Received 0% of votes. Needed 67%.
Proposal 2: (New Rule) Once a player’s season has ended, they can declare the intent to change position and use the remaining progressions they have on progressing for the new position to be used the following season.
EX: SS wants to change to CB. SS max speed is 87. They will be able to progress past this point up to 92, which is the max for the new position for the following season.
LEAGUE NOTE: If this passes, it would not be enacted until automation can be built into the portal. We currently have a large list of items still being worked on that must be completed first, so this would not occur for Season 20. We currently do not have a timeline for when it could be built, but are willing to add it to the project list to be built when possible.
REJECTED – Received 32% of votes. Needed 51%.
Next off-season, teams can bring items to the forefront for testing to be enacted in 2024 and that testing must be completed by the fall owner meetings of 2023. Next on the calendar of events, the re-signing period will begin Tuesday November 22, Free Agency will start Monday November 28 and the Season 20 schedule will be released Wednesday November 30.
