I have quite a few concepts for expansion teams tbh. Mainly because I came up with like... 16 teams for the league I was planning. I won't be using those here because I might still want to make that league one day... but I thought long and hard about where to place those teams. Having odd locations is kinda cool, imo. Sets the league apart from all those leagues where teams are all in major cities that have existing teams etc. I think it's better and more interesting to go off the beaten track.
A lot of people will talk about immersion and realism... and that's fine. I get it. However, I think the concerns are based on flawed ideas and reasoning.
Most sim leagues are overwhelmingly North America centric. Now, I get that the majority of people who start these leagues and participate in them are probably based in North America. That's great. But there's this strange thing where it feels like there is an assumption that these major American sports leagues (NBA, NHL, NFL etc) represent the bulk of interest in the sports, and that's why you get these "unrealistic" arguments when international teams are suggested. Yet there's no uproar over the fact this league has a team in Yellowknife? Seems odd. Feels to me that the concern isn't really about realism... but I'll humour you.
Like I already said, I think unusual locations are more interesting. But I'd also argue it's often more realistic. Not in the case of Yellowknife, but that's still a cool idea so we let it slide, right? Now we've already established that this league exists in the same reality as the NFL. So... for example, why would a rival league place a team in New Orleans, when the Saints exist? Surely you'd find locations where there might be a team vaguely nearby, but that team is poorly supported, or perhaps a little too far from hubs of strong football interest (maybe they have a middling college football team, but the nearest NFL franchise is a bit of a trek). A team in, say, Omaha, could make sense. They don't have a team there (unless you count indoor football)
If your argument is that travel times are unrealistic outside of North America... fair enough. I'd dispute this since we're supposedly in the future now, but why not stick to Central America and the Caribbean, then? Places in the Caribbean with high tourist footfall would be great options (Havana, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios). As would several locations in Mexico, or maybe you want to tap into the Rugby market in El Salvador and Guatemala, divert some of those guys away.
Some people are arguing that travel times make things tricky logistically and so on... but honestly, you can handwave that. If we're going to allow robots and literal animals to be players in this league, it seems strange to draw the line at "18-hour flights would be unreasonable before a game". Especially when you consider that the in-context date in this league is almost 20 years in the future now. We've already got an in-context explanation for the lack of injuries in the league (I vaguely recall something about nanobots instantly healing injuries?) which is hella futuristic, so why can't we expand that to either long haul travel, or speeding up the recovery after said travel, between games?
If, like me, you think concerns over travel can be handwaved away and Europe/Asia is totally viable, you can look at the existing markets for NFL Europe, and build from there. This does mean mostly larger cities, but there are some options here. There's a lot of interest in Germany and the UK for example. Particularly the North of the UK. There's also significant interest in North-West Europe (yes, this means Scandinavia) and also the former Soviet nations (including Russia). Looking further out to Asia, once again, lots of possible options here that would make some sense. Admittedly, this is trickier than the other categories, but the existence of the Japanese X-League and strong viewership in China, combined with the popularity of the sport in Australia and New Zealand, tells you that there is interest in the Asia-Pacific region at least.
With all that in mind, I still think Rock River Rumble -- as arguably unrealistic as it is; since Rock River makes Yellowknife look huge -- would be a fucking cool team name.
My other thoughts are more to do with expansion draft rules. I can see the concern for a team that might lose two players as GMs, but only get one player back. It's reasonable. Chances are, if you're gonna bid, you'll bid with someone you know well... most likely you're on the same team (or were in the past). This kind of causes an issue whereby GMs might be more reluctant to give permission to prospective expansion GMs to speak to their players.
I understand this is because of tampering rules, though what do you do if a GM denies permission because you want to talk to one of their best players about becoming a GM? Surely the best candidates for expansion GMs will be the kind of users who are active, and good LR presences. The very type of user a GM won't want to lose. Feels a bit like GMs could hold players hostage here. I don't have to worry about being approached because I don't have a player right now -- and also, I don't imagine many people will want me as their co-GM anyway lol -- but I'm one of a very small minority in that situation. I ask this question because I recall a situation where I was going to apply for a co-GM spot back in like... season 13? But there's no way my then-GM would have wanted to trade me. If he had, it would have effectively crippled the team I was going to GM, since I was a max-earning, first overall draft pick. The situation for expansion teams would be even worse, surely? They don't have anything to trade except draft picks... which they will need to build a team.
I'm not sure what the solution is here, but it feels like this might not be conducive to maximising applications for expansion teams. I could be wrong, though. Maybe GMs will actually be reasonable. Perhaps a better way would be to allow any user who is interested to submit their name to a neutral party who doesn't disclose anything, along with a shortlist of who they'd like to bid with. If those names have put themselves forward, clearly both players want to do this, and HO can work with their GM(s) to figure out a fair compensation package. I dunno. Just spitballing tbh.
Anyway, expansion should be interesting.
A lot of people will talk about immersion and realism... and that's fine. I get it. However, I think the concerns are based on flawed ideas and reasoning.
Most sim leagues are overwhelmingly North America centric. Now, I get that the majority of people who start these leagues and participate in them are probably based in North America. That's great. But there's this strange thing where it feels like there is an assumption that these major American sports leagues (NBA, NHL, NFL etc) represent the bulk of interest in the sports, and that's why you get these "unrealistic" arguments when international teams are suggested. Yet there's no uproar over the fact this league has a team in Yellowknife? Seems odd. Feels to me that the concern isn't really about realism... but I'll humour you.
Like I already said, I think unusual locations are more interesting. But I'd also argue it's often more realistic. Not in the case of Yellowknife, but that's still a cool idea so we let it slide, right? Now we've already established that this league exists in the same reality as the NFL. So... for example, why would a rival league place a team in New Orleans, when the Saints exist? Surely you'd find locations where there might be a team vaguely nearby, but that team is poorly supported, or perhaps a little too far from hubs of strong football interest (maybe they have a middling college football team, but the nearest NFL franchise is a bit of a trek). A team in, say, Omaha, could make sense. They don't have a team there (unless you count indoor football)
If your argument is that travel times are unrealistic outside of North America... fair enough. I'd dispute this since we're supposedly in the future now, but why not stick to Central America and the Caribbean, then? Places in the Caribbean with high tourist footfall would be great options (Havana, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios). As would several locations in Mexico, or maybe you want to tap into the Rugby market in El Salvador and Guatemala, divert some of those guys away.
Some people are arguing that travel times make things tricky logistically and so on... but honestly, you can handwave that. If we're going to allow robots and literal animals to be players in this league, it seems strange to draw the line at "18-hour flights would be unreasonable before a game". Especially when you consider that the in-context date in this league is almost 20 years in the future now. We've already got an in-context explanation for the lack of injuries in the league (I vaguely recall something about nanobots instantly healing injuries?) which is hella futuristic, so why can't we expand that to either long haul travel, or speeding up the recovery after said travel, between games?
If, like me, you think concerns over travel can be handwaved away and Europe/Asia is totally viable, you can look at the existing markets for NFL Europe, and build from there. This does mean mostly larger cities, but there are some options here. There's a lot of interest in Germany and the UK for example. Particularly the North of the UK. There's also significant interest in North-West Europe (yes, this means Scandinavia) and also the former Soviet nations (including Russia). Looking further out to Asia, once again, lots of possible options here that would make some sense. Admittedly, this is trickier than the other categories, but the existence of the Japanese X-League and strong viewership in China, combined with the popularity of the sport in Australia and New Zealand, tells you that there is interest in the Asia-Pacific region at least.
With all that in mind, I still think Rock River Rumble -- as arguably unrealistic as it is; since Rock River makes Yellowknife look huge -- would be a fucking cool team name.
My other thoughts are more to do with expansion draft rules. I can see the concern for a team that might lose two players as GMs, but only get one player back. It's reasonable. Chances are, if you're gonna bid, you'll bid with someone you know well... most likely you're on the same team (or were in the past). This kind of causes an issue whereby GMs might be more reluctant to give permission to prospective expansion GMs to speak to their players.
I understand this is because of tampering rules, though what do you do if a GM denies permission because you want to talk to one of their best players about becoming a GM? Surely the best candidates for expansion GMs will be the kind of users who are active, and good LR presences. The very type of user a GM won't want to lose. Feels a bit like GMs could hold players hostage here. I don't have to worry about being approached because I don't have a player right now -- and also, I don't imagine many people will want me as their co-GM anyway lol -- but I'm one of a very small minority in that situation. I ask this question because I recall a situation where I was going to apply for a co-GM spot back in like... season 13? But there's no way my then-GM would have wanted to trade me. If he had, it would have effectively crippled the team I was going to GM, since I was a max-earning, first overall draft pick. The situation for expansion teams would be even worse, surely? They don't have anything to trade except draft picks... which they will need to build a team.
I'm not sure what the solution is here, but it feels like this might not be conducive to maximising applications for expansion teams. I could be wrong, though. Maybe GMs will actually be reasonable. Perhaps a better way would be to allow any user who is interested to submit their name to a neutral party who doesn't disclose anything, along with a shortlist of who they'd like to bid with. If those names have put themselves forward, clearly both players want to do this, and HO can work with their GM(s) to figure out a fair compensation package. I dunno. Just spitballing tbh.
Anyway, expansion should be interesting.
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