What do progs do when they reach the present day? Topic

contrarian23
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I feel almost foolish for asking this after almost 10 years on this site, but I've never been in a progressive that dealt with this issue...what do you do when you catch up to the current MLB season?

-- Turn around and go backwards?
-- Restart at another point in history?
-- End the league altogether?

Are there different answers for single-season progs versus multi-season progs?

And if you do continue in some form, how do you deal with keepers, trading future draft picks, etc...how do the mechanics actually work?

If you don't continue, how do you keep owners interested in the final few seasons when there is no way to build for the future?

Anyone want to weigh in?
9/17/2015 11:46 AM
crazystengel
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We're in 2010 in one of my progs, the first prog I ever joined (we started in 1980).  It's gotten harder and harder to retain owners/attract new ones as we reach the present day.  I suspect the last season or two will probably involve contraction, as those really bad teams will be impossible even to give away. 

And then...well, I'm not interested in regressives, so no "going backwards" for me, and I doubt more than a few owners would be interested, especially since at this late date no one's laid out any plans for doing so.  Since we've already got a core group who have been playing together for a lot of seasons, restarting at an earlier point is probably the best way to go if we want to keep the league alive in any form.

As an aside, it's a very different dynamic playing in a prog you know will end soon.  The drafts in particular are weird, as you have to sort of downgrade players who will be valuable in two or three seasons (when your league might not be around) and upgrade the one-season wonder types.  I don't really like drafting with these factors in mind, but at least it's something different...

9/17/2015 2:10 PM
contrarian23
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That's what I would have expected...seems to me that a prog needs to have a clear plan about ten seasons in advance for what you are going to do.

I tend to agree that going to a regressive is probably not the best idea.

I would probably support picking another year (or years) back in time and moving forward...but that creates it's own challenges.  Do you start "fresh" with an inaugural draft?  If you have 20+ teams and you want to restart anytime before 1969, do you have enough players to fill the rosters?  Do you contract?

I hate the idea of seeing a good progressive "fizzle" to a stop.
9/17/2015 2:41 PM
dreeves
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This is an interesting topic and one which I hope to see comments from others.

One progressive that I am in ran from 1980 until the 2012(?) season, and then we "rebooted" but from the 1962 season. As we were approaching the end of the first iteration of the league, there was some drop off in interest from some owners, but some owners took on second teams and we were able to make it through successfully... and many of the same owners stayed with the league as we started v.2.  Dropping back to 1962 meant that we had to contract to a smaller league (16 teams), but we did have an expansion up to 20 teams, and may eventually return to 24 teams. Owners did not keep their original franchise, but the league rules were the same... we are now entering the 1976 season, so the reboot has been a success. 

I have been in several other progressvies where we reached an agreed upon end-season, and things proceeded reasonably well. Most team owners stayed active but the drafting dynamic does change somewhat, and trading might have been affected as well.

I run a progressive (started in the 1969 season) where we are now in the 2009 season. I hope that we might be able to keep it going through the 2017(?) season, however we are having difficulty keeping some owners interested, and advertising for new owners as we approach the "end of time" is proving to be difficult. Contraction may be necessary although it is not my preferred option.  Hopefully there will be other owners who might share their experience in keeping their leagues alive.

9/17/2015 3:05 PM
mlent
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Just keep the league going every October when the actual season ends.  This would actually be more like real life when you make trades etc.....

The obvious problem is what to do for 10 1/2 months that the league would be stag net. So you might have say a tournament of Champs, or a best of the worst tournament just to keep the member together and in touch
9/17/2015 7:03 PM
JAMESA
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I ran the NEAnderthal League for the last half of its existence (1969-2013) and it was all but dead at the end. Impossible to find any new owners toward the finish and it seems that interest in today's players just isn't there. That said, I am in 1 that will continue on into the future, but has several 2-team owners. Not sure how it will fair.
9/18/2015 12:31 AM
chrondon84
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Posted by mlent on 9/17/2015 7:03:00 PM (view original):
Just keep the league going every October when the actual season ends.  This would actually be more like real life when you make trades etc.....

The obvious problem is what to do for 10 1/2 months that the league would be stag net. So you might have say a tournament of Champs, or a best of the worst tournament just to keep the member together and in touch
We start every season around spring training. The draft is kind of a crap shoot, but its still fun. 

I also started a new league with a lot of the same owners, same rules, so we can play throughout the year. 
9/18/2015 3:35 AM
contrarian23
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Posted by mlent on 9/17/2015 7:03:00 PM (view original):
Just keep the league going every October when the actual season ends.  This would actually be more like real life when you make trades etc.....

The obvious problem is what to do for 10 1/2 months that the league would be stag net. So you might have say a tournament of Champs, or a best of the worst tournament just to keep the member together and in touch
I personally would not be interested in doing this; not sure how other owners feel.  I'd join a traditional fantasy league rather than run a WIS progressive this way.

So far there haven't been many responses...seems like the options are:
1.) Let the league die (but I would imagine you would start to lose owners whose teams aren't going to be competitive, and as some have stated in this thread I expect it would be very difficult to fill those spots.)
2.) Restart the league at another point in history.

Anyone have examples of how the second option has worked?

Are there any other options that haven't been discussed yet?
9/21/2015 8:09 AM
edsortails
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I feel like you are ignoring the option posted right above your last post.

The CL caught up to real life about 3 seasons ago and has stayed intact and gathered every spring training to draft and play the most recent year played in RL.
9/27/2015 1:51 AM
contrarian23
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No, I said directly that I personally would not be interested in doing that.  I can understand why some would want to, but I'm looking for other alternatives.
9/27/2015 1:01 PM
DoctorKz
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Good to get feedback here, but the key is to get a consensus in your league a few seasons in advance...I would ask the league owners for ideas. Get them involved in the process.

If you are gonna roll back the calendar, perhaps have a season or two of transitional drafts. If you go back and reload in 1910, perhaps give the owners a certain number of picks from '08 and '09...no doubt you're gonna have depleted rosters. Would be easier to replenish over 2 or 3 seasons, rather than all at once...perhaps you could convert to a dual season progressive. Then when you hit the wall, then roll back to an earlier era...

One time we developed a list of players from mixed seasons to supplement rosters. What the hell, be creative and have fun...

9/27/2015 10:28 PM (edited)
DoctorKz
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I ran an ongoing league that was a progressive, but also worked in a list of mixed seasons that all owners submitted a few players that were added to the draft pool. It kept it fresh, and was fun to add a ringer to your roster.
9/27/2015 10:32 PM
edsortails
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Posted by contrarian23 on 9/27/2015 1:01:00 PM (view original):
No, I said directly that I personally would not be interested in doing that.  I can understand why some would want to, but I'm looking for other alternatives.
not that it matters much, but for the record, I didn't mean ignoring as in you weren't being responsive, I meant it as in I don't believe you are seeing the fun in it....I didn't elaborate quite enough
9/28/2015 12:22 AM
hersheybear
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Have an All Star season with each owner selecting players from their team's historic rosters. No clones. Salary cap?
9/28/2015 2:05 PM
zimbabweguy
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For what its worth, the WADY league caught up to present day with the 2014 season. Now after being stagnant for most of the past year we're hoping to continue with the 2015 season, but by last count only 18/24 owners are still in and it might be a long shot to keep the league going. It would be a shame though as its been a great league.  I've been in since the beginning and played every season from 1969-2014 over the course of 11 real life years.
10/6/2015 7:20 PM
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