Monopoly Progressive

This will be a ruthless 24-team progressive league beginning with the 2000 season and ending after the completion of the 2011 season.  At the end, one owner will walk away with all the cash, while the rest will be left empty-handed.  Unlike other progressives, the champion will not be decided by wins and losses, or by World Series titles (although they do help immensely), the victor will be the owner who accumulates the most wealth over the 12 seasons.

INITIATION

As soon as 24 owners have signed an ownership agreement, they will each be given a lump sum of 100 million dollars.  The first order of business will be the Player Units Auction (much more on that later). 

Each MLB team’s real-life roster from the 2000 season will be divided into the following 5 units depending on their position in the WIS database (Players with split seasons will belong to the team for which they had the most PA’s or IP, but their combined season may still be used):

1.       Starting Pitching Unit

2.       Relief Pitching Unit

3.       Infield Unit

4.       Outfield unit

5.       Catching/DH/Stadium Unit

Note:  There will be 30 different units available at each position (150 total).  An owner must acquire one and only one Player Unit from each position.

Owners will bid on Player Units until they have either purchased one of each or run out of money.  Any money left over after the Unit Auction will belong to that owner and carry over into the next season. 

RULES

No Salary cap; Fictitious AAA players will NOT be used, we will use manual AAA players with a maximum of 6 position players and 2 pitchers; DH will be used in the AL only, but starting in Season Two (DH will not be used at all in Season One); Alignment will be random for the first season, but it will change after every season depending on the amount of money you had going into the most recent off-season (more on that later); Transaction deadline (AAA call-ups) will be set at the 160-game mark, Trading deadline will be set at the 120-game mark.

Team names will be in the standard format (City - Mascot), but the city name must be one of the streets on the Monopoly board; Trading will be allowed and encouraged, but with one restriction. During a season, only player-for-player trades will be allowed (subject to veto).  During the off-season only, players may also be sold to another owner outright for any amount (1 million dollar minimum and as always, only in increments of 1 million dollars).    

INCOME

There are various ways owners can increase their bankroll.  Following the completion of every season, each owner will receive a disbursement amount based on the success of their team.  This payment will be added to the balance that an owner had going into the season.  First and foremost, owners will be awarded 1 million dollars per every regular season victory.  Owners’ whose teams reach the post-season will receive playoff shares as well.  Losing in the ALCS or NLCS will net an extra 10 million dollars.  Losing in the World Series will bring in an extra 20 million dollars, and winning the World Series will add a hefty 30 million dollars to that owners’ pocket.  Individual player performances will also bring in some added income.  Owners will receive 1 million dollars for every player they send to the All-Star game.  A player who wins the MVP or the Cy Young Award in either league will make their owner 5 million dollars richer.  Players who lead either the AL or the NL in any of the following six categories will add 3 million dollars apiece to their owners’ ledger (in case of ties for the league lead, both owners will be awarded the 3 million):  Batting average, Homeruns, RBI, Wins, E.R.A., and Strikeouts.

PLAYER UNITS AUCTION

This system will only be used for the initial player distribution.  A different auction system will be used for subsequent rookie acquisitions. 

A Player Unit will become property of the highest bidder at the very moment that exactly 24 hours have passed since the last bid.  A Player Unit will remain open for bidding until someone makes a bid and claims it after 24 hours or the auction portion of the draft finishes. 

The Auction will close when all owners have either acquired their 5 Player Units or run out of money (a balance of less than 5 Million dollars will officially enter an owner into the bankruptcy list, although their remaining balance would still carry over into the next season).  At that time, owners who still do not have their 5 Player Units will be entered into a straight draft to choose from the remaining Player Units.  The owner who declared bankruptcy first will have the last pick of each round, while the owner who took the longest to go belly-up will have the first pick of each round.

Once all owners have acquired their 5 Player Units, there will be a 2 round draft where owners will select individual players from among the unclaimed Player Units (there will be 6 unclaimed Player Units at each position for a total of 30 Units).  The owner with the highest remaining balance will have the first pick in each round, followed by the owner with the second highest balance, and so on.  Owners in bankruptcy will be slotted in the same order as they were slotted for the Remaining Player Units’ Draft. If two owners are tied with the same balance, the owner who filled their 5 Units first will have the higher pick.  Picks and/or Players may be traded freely or sold outright to owners that still have funds available.

ROSTERS

After the completion of the Player Units Auction, the Remaining Player Units Draft and the 2 Round Individual Player Draft, we will be ready to begin entering our teams into the first season.  Since all Player Units have a different amount of players (ex. The Angels Relief Pitching Unit has 13 players, while the Braves Starting Pitching Unit only has 3, albeit 3 very good ones), not all teams will have the same number of players.  Owners will select who to place on their 25 man roster and they will also be allowed to place a maximum of 6 position players and 2 pitchers in AAA. If any owners still have extra players, those players will be placed on IR for the season, but the team will still hold their rights for the time being.  If any owners have less than 25 players, they will add undrafted individual players from the unclaimed Player Units until they have 25 players.       

Following the completion of each season, owners will post their keeper lists for the upcoming year.  There is no limit on the number of players you can keep (up to 33 of course), nor on the number of inactive players that you can place on injured-reserve.  There is a cost however.  There will be a 1 million dollar fee per keeper for the first 20 players you keep.  After that, every additional keeper will cost you 3 million dollars per player.  Players that will miss the upcoming season due to injury may not be released, but they will not count towards your keeper list.  They must be placed on Injured Reserve until they are ready to return to action.

The draft pool for the Rookie Auction Draft will consist of incoming rookies, non-keepers, as well as any undrafted players from previous seasons.  All owners will enter each draft with their up-to-date Cash Balance (including the disbursement amount from the most recently completed season).  Owners will bid on players as they see fit, they can spend freely or they can save their bankroll, it is up to them, so long as they can field a 25 man roster.  Adding players to AAA will be completely optional, with a maximum of 6/2 (an owner may therefore have anywhere from 25 to 33 active players on the team roster).  Whatever funds are left-over after an owner has finalized their roster will carry over into the following season.

THE ROOKIE AUCTIONS

This is where fortunes will be made for some and where they’ll be squandered for others.  The minimum bid allowed on any player will always be 1 million dollars. Bids may be raised by any amount, but only in increments of 1 million dollars.  A player will become property of the highest bidder at the very moment that exactly 24 hours have passed since the last bid.  A player will remain open for bidding until someone makes a bid on him and claims him after 24 hours or the auction portion of the draft finishes. 

The Auction House will run the drafts and release a schedule prior to each draft that will show the date and time that the bidding will open on each Rookie.  Every two hours, beginning at 10am EST and ending at 10pm EST, the House will open the bidding on two additional Rookies (one position player and one pitcher).  A Rookies’ WIS salary for the upcoming season will determine the order in which they will be made available for bidding.  The highest salaried position player and the highest salaried pitcher will both be put up for auction at 10am, followed by the second-highest salaried position player and the second-highest salaried pitcher being made available at 12pm, and so on.  This will continue until all Rookies have been made available for bidding for at least 24 hours.

Following that, any rookies that didn’t receive a bid, as well as all undrafted players from previous years and all non-keepers will be simultaneously opened for bidding.  At this point however, the difference is that a player will become property of the highest bidder at the very moment that exactly 12 hours have passed since the last bid (instead of the usual 24 hours).  The 12 hour rule will also apply to Rookies for which bidding is still ongoing.            

If an owner claims two or more players, and as a result spends more money than he has available, the owner will be fined 5 million dollars from their next disbursement check and the owner who had the next highest bid on that player would have the first right of refusal to claim that player and so on.

ALIGNMENT

The league will be randomly aligned for the first year.  After that, the league will re-align before each and every season depending on the amount of money each team had heading into the previous off-season (after including the disbursement amount from the most recently completed season). 

1. The American League will be the A-league, while the National League will be the B-league.

2. After each season, all remaining teams will be seeded first thru last based on total wealth through that point.  For the following season, the AL will be made up of all the highest seeds, while the NL will be filled by the remaining bottom seeds.  The two groups of teams will be distributed evenly amongst their divisions by using snake-style dispersal. 

For example, Season Two will be aligned as follows:

Season Two – 2001, 24 teams:   The AL will consist of the 12 teams with the most money, while the 12 NL teams will consist of teams seeded 13^th thru 24^th.  Divisions would be balanced by seed. Using the 4/4/4 breakdown, the AL East Division will house Seeds # 1, #6, #7, and #12; the AL Central Division will be made up of Seeds #2, #5, #8, and #11; while the AL West Division would have Seeds #3, #4, #9, #10.  The same will be done for the NL (East: #13, #18, #19, #24; Central: #14, #17, #20, #23; West: #15, #16, #21, #22).

THE BOTTOM LINE

Cash is king, gentlemen.  Whoever accrues the most capital over the course of the 12 seasons will win the big prize.  Oh yeah, one last thing… each owner will be asked to invest a $10 WIS Gift Certificate.  It is up to each owner though, whether or not they want to make that investment.  But keep in mind that a 10 million dollar fine will be withheld every season from an owners’ disbursement check until that owner has submitted the Gift Certificate.  The Champion of the league will receive every single one of the $10 GC’s, as well as whatever else admin throws into the pot.

About the Founder:  ctorriente has been a relatively active member of WIS since 2002, consistently averaging a paltry 8.1 teams per year.  He once went 4 years between championships. He is known mostly for spawning the ground-breaking Icon Progressive in 2008, which now has a cult-like following and a spin-off 70’s version.  Most recently, he launched the nerve-wracking Progressive Eliminator, filling the cut-throat 30-team league in less than 72 hours.  He is well-known for his excessively long classified ads. 

Testimonials:

Maddog162: “Yea, the Progressive Eliminator is my favorite league since the two Icon Progressive leagues actually.  I don’t have as much time for this site anymore, so those are the only leagues I really pay attention to.”

Whoscraig: “This is crazy. I don’t know how you come up with this stuff.”

Umdterp397: “The profane becomes obscene. I’m in.”

Owners Sign-up List:

1. ctorriente
2. stpmotom
3. calhoop
4. beirnej1
5, crustydoc
6. abfball60
7. undterp397
8. kneeneighbor
9. Brianjw
10. tarheel1991
11. eman7400
12. profcake
13. jonas1102
14. teal_leo
15. toddleduc
16. pugs
17. cubieblu
18. deanod
19. coldfeet
20. gumbercules
21. crazyjoe02
22. helmethead1
23. yogi20
24.



List of available Streets (first-come, first-served)
Full name as it appears below must be used, followed by whatever mascot name you choose

Kentucky Avenue
Indiana Avenue
Illinois Avenue - crazyjoe02
B&O Railroad - toddleduc
Atlantic Avenue
Ventnor Avenue - calhoop
Marvin Gardens - eman7400
Pacific Avenue - umdterp397
North Carolina Avenue - tarheel1991
Pennsylvania Avenue - abfball60
Short Line - Disco Dogs
Park Place - teal_leo
Boardwalk - ctorriente
Mediterranean Avenue - deanod
Baltic Avenue - cubieblue
Reading Railroad - profcake
Oriental Avenue
Vermont Avenue - coldfeet
Connecticut Avenue - jonas1102
St. Charles Place - stpmotom
States Avenue - gumbercules
Virginia Avenue
Pennsylvania Railroad
St. James Place - beirnej1
Tennessee Avenue - crustydoc
New York Avenue


Sitemail list:
ctorriente; stpmotom; calhoop; beirnej1; crustydoc; abfball60; umdterp397; kneeneighbor; Disco Dogs; tarheel1991; eman7400; profcake; jonas1102; teal_leo; toddleduc; cubieblu; deanod; coldfeet; gumbercules; crazyjoe02; nin311ff; yogi20; pugs