01-31-2023, 03:48 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-03-2023, 04:33 PM by nunccoepi. Edited 2 times in total.)
As some may already know, both Head Offices have been monitoring the state of activity, recruitment, and retention in the league over the last several seasons and decided that it was necessary to discuss contraction of the DSFL as a potential solution to a troubling trend. For example, in May 2022 DSFL teams averaged almost 22 active users per team. At the end of last season, no team had more than 10. You can see the trend here.
The idea for contraction is simple: seasons are more fun and engaging with more activity on a team. And when we surround our users with more activity it breeds further engagement and better retention. We've done this in the past (here and here) to adjust for changes in demand (and we were able to successfully bring the contracted teams back). Thus, after conducting extensive research and soliciting open feedback from GMs, DSFL HO was convinced that contraction was the best route forward. Specifically, two DSFL teams will need to be contracted and made into bot teams. We've made the difficult decision to select the Bondi Beach Buccaneers and the Portland Pythons.
We looked at various data points from the last five or six seasons including the numbers of actives on the team, percentage of the team staying active of the course of a season, and average tpe of players at the time of the draft, breaking as much data down as possible by classification as new user vs. recreate. We looked at ratio of new users to recreates, win records for the last several seasons, locker room activity levels, current tpe levels, GM trends, and GM feedback on the survey we sent out. In short, we did everything we could to do our due diligence. Naturally, not every one of these factors weighed against any one team. And different HO members viewed these factors with varying weights. When all was said and done though, I think we all agreed on one thing: no team fared poorly in every metric. Which meant there was an argument for and against contracting every team. This only made our decision more difficult and bolstered the idea that no matter our decision, we will leave some people very disappointed. Still, unless current trends reverse, we are not able to sustain 8 different DSFL teams in a way that is best for overall league health.
We recognize that we are about to have r/NFL recruitment. This has net very many new users in the past, although fewer in recent seasons. But if we are able to secure a very large S41 class we may consider temporarily delaying contraction (which would naturally mean reevaluating the selected teams). And if there are enough users, we might be able to put off contraction indefinitely.
A few other pertinent details. There will be changes to the usual off-season schedule to accommodate for an additional (contraction) draft, so stay tuned. And we will leave it up to the current GMs of the contracted teams as to how they want to proceed with their Discord locker rooms. They are certainly encouraged to maintain them as important artifacts of team history--and hopefully ongoing and future fellowship. Importantly, we don't want any of the DSFL GMs, especially those from the Buccaneers or Pythons, to be viewed negatively because of this decision. Those who've GM'd a team know that it is very rewarding but also very challenging--not least of all because there are so many factors outside of their control. We want to thank them all for their very good work and sacrifices.
We will do our best to answer any questions you might have for us in the comments.
The idea for contraction is simple: seasons are more fun and engaging with more activity on a team. And when we surround our users with more activity it breeds further engagement and better retention. We've done this in the past (here and here) to adjust for changes in demand (and we were able to successfully bring the contracted teams back). Thus, after conducting extensive research and soliciting open feedback from GMs, DSFL HO was convinced that contraction was the best route forward. Specifically, two DSFL teams will need to be contracted and made into bot teams. We've made the difficult decision to select the Bondi Beach Buccaneers and the Portland Pythons.
We looked at various data points from the last five or six seasons including the numbers of actives on the team, percentage of the team staying active of the course of a season, and average tpe of players at the time of the draft, breaking as much data down as possible by classification as new user vs. recreate. We looked at ratio of new users to recreates, win records for the last several seasons, locker room activity levels, current tpe levels, GM trends, and GM feedback on the survey we sent out. In short, we did everything we could to do our due diligence. Naturally, not every one of these factors weighed against any one team. And different HO members viewed these factors with varying weights. When all was said and done though, I think we all agreed on one thing: no team fared poorly in every metric. Which meant there was an argument for and against contracting every team. This only made our decision more difficult and bolstered the idea that no matter our decision, we will leave some people very disappointed. Still, unless current trends reverse, we are not able to sustain 8 different DSFL teams in a way that is best for overall league health.
We recognize that we are about to have r/NFL recruitment. This has net very many new users in the past, although fewer in recent seasons. But if we are able to secure a very large S41 class we may consider temporarily delaying contraction (which would naturally mean reevaluating the selected teams). And if there are enough users, we might be able to put off contraction indefinitely.
A few other pertinent details. There will be changes to the usual off-season schedule to accommodate for an additional (contraction) draft, so stay tuned. And we will leave it up to the current GMs of the contracted teams as to how they want to proceed with their Discord locker rooms. They are certainly encouraged to maintain them as important artifacts of team history--and hopefully ongoing and future fellowship. Importantly, we don't want any of the DSFL GMs, especially those from the Buccaneers or Pythons, to be viewed negatively because of this decision. Those who've GM'd a team know that it is very rewarding but also very challenging--not least of all because there are so many factors outside of their control. We want to thank them all for their very good work and sacrifices.
We will do our best to answer any questions you might have for us in the comments.