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Legacy is really close to the NFL in how the league is run, with one glaring difference. In the NFL, there is Free Agency. FA was developed for the NFL to prevent dynasties lasting too long and to aid in spreading out the talent pool. Some concerns about Legacy’s lack of a FA-like system are that once a player is on a team, he will be there forever or that one team will build such a powerful franchise that they will dominate year after year while the other managers lose interest. A lose of parity is a major concern.

This is just an idea that would add a higher level of reality to Legacy. We will call it “Contract Years” for now. It will add the strategy of each franchise trying to keep their club under the salary cap without added finances. It will allow a player to serve several, or even many, years for one club (exactly how long is up to the manager), but eventually that player will return to the pool for all managers to have a shot at owning. Insuring a healthy turnover of players through the years without disturbing the dynasty format of the league. Legacy’s franchises will very closely resemble how NFL teams work through the years.

The basic concept is to give each franchise 60 Contract Years. They will assign these years to their players as to how long they wish to keep them. For example, if you acquire a top QB at the startup auction and you decide he is worth 5 of your Contract Years- that QB will play for your franchise for 5 seasons. He has basically signed a five-year contract to play for you, after that 5th season he will return to the available players’ pool and be re-auctioned… he becomes a Free Agent. You will distribute your Contract Years among your entire roster. Top players or future studs will most likely sign contracts for longer while backups or aging players will get signed for only one or two seasons, just like in the NFL.

These years would return to you as they are spent allowing you to use them on newly acquired or re-acquired players, but your total Contract Years would never exceed 60 years. For example, the QB you acquired earlier and signed to a 5-year contract will be your QB until 2009. However, after the 2005 season ends, he is only using up 4 Contract Years so you have an extra year to assign elsewhere or hold to give to pickups. Since all players will require at least one year, you will receive 30 years back each season to sign new players. You can also drop players and cut their contracts short and regain any unused Contract Years

A wise manager would stagger his contracts so his entire team doesn’t return to Free Agency in the same season. He would have a more opportunity to re-acquire the players he wanted at the auction. This would also make the Rookie Auctions much more important because quality players will steadily be returning to the auction. The first Rookie Auctions will have lower tiered players returning, but in a few years more star players will be at the auction. Each year a fresh crop of top talent will return to Free Agency, each manager will then a chance to acquire the player at the auction and sign him to a new contract.

Players can be traded normally, but their contracts will be carried over to the new club making the new manager responsible to provide the Contract Years. The standing contract will be part of any trade, no new contracts from trades.

A distinction is made between Multi-Season players and Single-Season players. Single season players are just that, only used for one season and really has no lasting place on that particular team, basically scrubs. While Multi-Season players are wanted and will generally be the mid-to-upper level of players. Multi-Season players have requirements to insure their eventual return to the auction pool, such as a manager cannot drop a Multi-Season player in his last contract year until after the season is complete.

When a player is acquired during the season, they are contracted with the franchise for however many years the manager wants to keep them at that time, so it would be smart to have Contract Years on hand. A player can be dropped at any time during his contract (except Multis during their last season) and the unused years return to the franchise.

Pros:
Added reality, more like the NFL
Higher turnover of lower tier players
Eventual turnover of top players
Added strategy for the prepared manager
Adds much more purpose to the Rookie Auction
Insures league parity

Cons:
Adds too much detail
More work to keep track of

This idea could work and add a lot of the league or it simply could be too much trouble. I am just proposing it to all and I look forward to your thoughts. Consider it and discuss all the possibilities. Email me or the entire league with your opinion.

Additional Points and Brainstorming (Thoughts made by managers will be listed here)

1) Without Contract Years, I could definitely see the rosters, or at least the half of the rosters, becoming stagnant. With only eight teams their will not very that great of a need to overhaul your starting line up each year. Managers will try to search out better talent, but it won’t be very important if you know you have 2 or 3 top players at key positions. Wasting franchise accounts on sporadic hopefuls will get old very quickly and rosters will remain basically the same year after year. Contracts will set a deadline on all players, forcing the good manager to find a replacement now, not later.

2) It will force the manager to act, trade, purchase, save cash, or take action that fits his current needs. Without Contract Years, managers with a solid starting lineup have no need to trade players or work with other franchises. Just think of a monopoly game when a player refuses to trade or bargain.

3) Years cannot be added to already existing contracts. Once a contract has been signed (Contract Years assigned to a player) that contract is final and cannot be lengthen, however it can be cut short.

4) Once a manger drops a player (not trades away, but drops), he cannot reacquire him though pickups, trade, or any other means until the Rookie Auction. This will prevent a manager from dropping a player to cancel his contract only to pick him back and re-sign a different contract.

5) Contract Years would also get rid of the fortunate chance or lucky pickup, thus making knowledge and skill more important than luck or chance. If a manager picks up a player but only signed him to a one year deal and that player turns out to be great, the manager did not see that coming and must suffer the lose of him to Free Agency. However, if a manager grabs a no name guy and signs him to a 3-year deal and the player explodes, he saw it in advance and is rewarded.

6) Possibility? Allow “Rookie Riders”. This could be where rookies do not have to be signed to a deal until their sophomore year. Allowing them to ride on the roster for free for their rookie season letting the manager see the player in action before signing him.

7) I have really been considering how many contract years that we should have. I have run several mock teams and assigned contracts to the players (not individual players but labeling them Starting QB, Backup QB, Rookie Hopeful, etc.). I wanted all to have plenty of years to give their clubs a sense of dynasty but to still encourage player turnover and still have the most enjoyable strategic value. I am thinking 60 Years is just about right. These years would allow for top players to have a long run on a team, still allow for backups and hopefuls plenty of time to develop. However, you wont have all the time in the world for players to develop, it will be tough to keep the players you want under contract, very tough in some cases. This would really add to the excitement of managing a franchise, which is the goal. It will be a lot like the NFL, long runs by some players with lots of turnover at other positions.

8) I don’t think this will really add as much complication as it sounds, it is a simple addition that has tons of strategic value but not too much work. The only extra work is the time spent assigning years after the Auctions, which shouldn’t be much at all. The off season information will all be provided for the managers at the website. During the season, they will simply need to be aware of how many years they have available and post or email how many they are assigning a player when the pick him up. A regular posting of finances and Contract Years can easily be provided at least once a week, if not more often, during the season. It is simply adding and subtracting small increments with roster changes.

9) Managers must remember that when the contract expires, that franchise does not have to lose the player. The player can always be repurchased at the auction. Consider it renegotiating a contract. This is very similar to the NFL’s Free Agency system were all other teams have a chance to meet or better the offer, our auction accomplishes the same thing.

10) If we adopt the Contract Years system, I do see a need to simplify in other areas. We could get rid of the “Auction Block” set up, allow trades for the first half of the season, and not require a full 30 players to be acquired at the Startup Auction but just make sure 25-30 players on the roster.

11) Backup QBs that spend an entire season Red-Shirted will still be required to have a contract (unless a rookie) but the contract will be considered frozen. This will extend the contract for the owning manager.

Contract Years / Free Agency

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