ATLANTIC COAST BASEBALL CONSTITUTION

5^th Version Dated 9/09/06 (bcm)

4^th Version Dated 6/14/06 (bcm)

3^rd Version Dated 11/17/05 (bcm)

2nd Version Dated 12/16/04 (bcm)

Original Version Dated 11/30/04 (bcm)

Premise
In a series of discussions between long time OOTP players Jerimy Kopra, Jason Bartlett and Brian Miller the three came up with their idea for what they would like to see in an online league.  Foremost was a small league so that all the owners involved were involved.  They wanted to assure a quality of owner that was higher than the typical standard so as to avoid the problems in their other leagues.  First they only wanted people that they could see as problem free, they wanted to avoid owners who had cheating scandals or were just generally disliked by the majority of the league.  Second they wanted to avoid deadbeat owners, the kind who you are unsure if they are even running their team anymore.  Finally they wanted to avoid unskilled owners.  Not that they don’t love some of them, but they can severely unbalance a league when the unscrupulous take advantage of them.

Further discussions revealed a desire to have a league where everyone tried to win.  It seems that everyone should want to win, but too often teams have the goal of trying to lose until they have acquired enough prospects to be good.  Not that they hadn’t taken the same tactic before, but it should not be confused with good ownership.  They felt that too often a team would be bad for a decade and yet the same person continued to run it into the ground, something no real team would ever allow.  Thus the central idea of the league was formed, the ability for team GMs to be fired based on performance.

The final idea for the league could be summed up simply, quality GMs that are held accountable for their performance.  The league was created as a 12 team league set in 1921 with completely fictional teams and players.  The teams were built by their original GMs in an initial dispersal draft.

How to Join
Joining is not very difficult.  All that is required is that you post in our new applicants section.  If you are reading this chances are you were invited here.  If you were not invited that is ok, but you may not receive a team without the endorsement of one of our current GMs.  It is not an attempt to be elitist, it simply is elitist.  This league wants to assure a level of quality that cannot be maintained by allowing first time GMs or unknown GMs.  Feel free to post on our boards, all of our owners are active in other leagues and we will gladly point you towards a good league to get your feet wet in.

If you have been invited we probably know all your information, so all we ask is that you post letting us know you are interested and letting us know where we would know you from and who would know you. You will find a thread asking for all manager's names and birth dates as well as nationality so we can enter you into the game. Anyone interested can be added to the game but does not necissarily assure you will get a team. First come often gets preferance but there are other criteria in our decision making.

Governing Board
At this point in ACB history the league only has a commissioner.  There is no need for other positions, though all of the original 3 creators can certainly answer any questions anyone may have and should have a certain level of authority in the league.

General Managers
The ACB does not have human owners; the owners of the teams are a bunch of cranky old men who are highly temperamental and love to fire people.  The league will have 16 human GMs however.  These 16 teams will be placed in 4 divisions in the ACB and 1 division in the LBMN.  General Managers are expected to export line ups for all Sims or to post in the league forums if they are unable to.  GMs are also expected to answer all communications from the league office and their fellow GMs in a timely manner.  Any GM who it is felt is not doing these things may be removed from their position.

General Managers are also required to maintain a certain level of play to keep their jobs.  A GM may be fired for any of the following reasons:

1)       If a team’s winning percentage is below .500 for 3 consecutive seasons the GM will be removed from his position.

2)       If a team has a winning percentage below .400 in a single season the GM will be removed.

3)       If a team is below a 40 in fan interest at the end of the season the GM will be removed.

There are exceptions to these rules.  No GM will be removed in his first year.  Any GM that wins the ACB Championship will receive a 2 year grace period for rules 2 and 3, but rule 1 will still apply if in their third year they have 3 consecutive sub .500 seasons.  Any GM that is removed is not removed because anyone in the league is angry with them or dislikes them, this is simply here to maintain a competitive atmosphere in the league.  Thus any GM that is removed is welcome to add their name to the waiting list for a new team, and will receive one when one becomes available.  All new GMs will have their teams fan interest reset to 65 if it is below said number.

Fan Interest will be the only factor that can be controlled outside of the game engine.  This league does not require participation, but it will reward participation.  GMs can gain media points by writing for the league.  All team news will be worth 2 media points, all league features will be worth 4 media points, and league polls will be worth 1 media point.  Media points are not required but will contribute slightly to fan interest in the following ways.

·         1-10 media points increases fan interest by 2% at the end of the season

·         11-20 media points increases fan interest by 4% at the end of the season

·         every 10 media points after 20 increases fan interest by an additional 1% at the end of the season (i.e. 30 media points would result in 4% + 1% for the additional 10 for a total of a 5% increase)

This will be the only way one can attempt to keep their job in cases of poor performance, but is more of a stop gap than it is a true solution.  Winning is the only way to truly keep your job long term.

Sims
Sims will be conducted on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  All exports are due by noon Eastern on those days.  Sims will be processed by 2 PM Eastern and will be processed offline.  Sims will contain 15 days of games or 16 in the case of long months.  The second July Sim will stop before the 31^st to assure trades before the deadline can be processed.  There will not be a separate All-Star Game Sim.  Playoff Sims will be on successive days to assure a speedy post season.

Finances
Finances will be used. There is no salary cap, the only cap is in how much a team earns. Teams have a cash cap of $10,000,000 to make sure no successful team can use their past success to dominate the league financially.

There will be a cap on all non attendance revenue however.  All national TV deals will be at $6,500,000 per year.  All local TV deals will be set at $22,000,000 per year.  All teams will receive $14,000,000 in merchandising revenue.

All team markets and fan loyalty will be maintained at Average and Good respectably.  Any random increases or decreases by the game engine will be corrected back to the league norm.

Ticket prices can be set between $1 and $20 and completely left to the team’s GM.

Waivers

Players can be cut at any time by posting them on the message board.  DO NOT CUT PLAYERS YOURSELF.  This will cause your export to fail.  Each team in accordance with the OOTP engine will be assessed the full, remaining value of a player’s contract at the time of the release.  This cost will increase the team’s Player Expenses for that season only.

Any player with an extension that is cut will have the amount of the extension subtracted from the team’s cash to reflect the added expenses there.

Shess

It is official league policy that Shess sucks!

League Settings
No DH in the ML.  DH in the KL. DH in the entire LBMN.
Coaches Disabled. Scouts Enabled
Talent is on a 10 point scale, ratings are on a 20 point scale, Scout ratings are on a 10 point scale, all other ratings are on a 20 point scale.

Financials On; No Salary Cap; Team Cash Max $10 million
Team Markets are Average; Loyalty to Good
Fan Interest set to 65 on all teams (initially)
Amateur Draft is 15 rounds for the ACB and 12 rounds for the LBMN
14 teams; 2 leagues; 2 sub-leagues in the ACB with 23-team divisions each (3/3)

ACB 2 Round Playoff Format (Best of 7, Best of 9)

LBMN Split Season with 9 Game series to decide winner.
ERA= Baseball Rebirth (for now)
Standard Roster limit of 23

40-Man roster disabled

Waivers disabled

Minor League Option years enabled, set to 3 years

Rule V draft disabled

Salary Arbitration enabled

Minor League Free agents enabled

Player Eligibility
Fielders are eligible to play the following positions based upon their being rated at the main position:

Fielders and pitchers face no restrictions as to where they will be played.

Teams may choose to employ any rotation size they choose.

Position players may have their positions changed by owners via Team Export if the player has a defensive rating at the given

Amateur Draft
The ACB draft classes will be generated by the OOTP engine.  There will be 15 rounds to all drafts.

The LBMN draft classes will be generated by the OOTP engine. There will be 12 rounds to all drafts.

ACB Draft order will be decided by record for the first 8 places.  The following 4 teams will be the playoff teams, they will be ranked by playoff success and then record.  Tie breakers for matching records among teams starts with head to head play, followed by division record, and finally coin toss.

LBMN Draft order will be determined by record but with the Championship winner always going last.

Trades
ALL trades must be posted on the message board and confirmed by both owners and will be actioned by the Commissioner AFTER the games are simmed. All trades must contain at least 1 player from each side.

Please do not add/trade players in your league file prior to exporting lineup as it will cause your lineup to be invalid. Please respond to trade offers as quickly as possible and be nice, even if the offer is absurd.

Trading of draft picks will be allowed buy only picks for the next draft after the trade is made.

Off Season Free Agency
FA offers will be made via FTP export files in game. The simulation schedule will vary as the Commish sees fit, but will typically occur over 5 consecutive evenings 

All teams should set a team password and do a Team Export BEFORE bidding on any free agents.  Please leave that password on your team for security purposes.

 In Season Free Agency
Signing of free agents during the season is governed as follows:
Free agents will be made offers in game. You can make as many players offers as you would like. Once you have made all your offers make sure you have exported your file.

Free Agents will sign at any point in the year.

Contract extensions
There is no maximum contract length in the ACB/LBMN. All extensions will be made on the message board and a reply given by the next simmer on the player’s response. The simmer can process extensions any time before or after importing teams.  Please use the same thread for all of your extensions in one season.  A team will be given 3 “strikes” to make a successful offer then the player will become a FA. The final regular season sim is the deadline for offering contract extensions. If bids are made after the final regular season sim the simmer will attempt to place them but cannot garauntee this will be done.  It is not necessary to extend players who are arbitration eligible.

All-Star Game
The All-star Game roster will be decided by the OOTP engine. 

Awards/Award Incentives
Awards will be established by the game engine. Teams will receive a cash reward for all players who win awards.

·         Golden Gloves are worth $50,000 cash

·         All-Stars are worth $25,000

·         Golden Rookies are worth $50,000

·         Golden Arms are worth $100,000

·         Golden Bats are worth $100,000

All rewards are added to the teams cash after the season is turned over, allowing for amounts over the cash max.

Participation
Participation is encouraged through media points, but the only requirement is that a team export on a regular basis or alerts the league if they are unable to.  Participation is what makes a league fun.

 Mandatory Voting
As of the moment there are no mandatory votes in the ACB

Credits
Thanks go out to Global Baseball Consortium, American Baseball Association, Other Reality Baseball, Monty Brewster Baseball Association, Federation of International Baseball and any others that inspired this document or were used as a model for differing sections.  We thank them all for the inspiration and experience they gave us all, without them we would never have been able to form this league.