CFL NewsLetter
Volume 18, Number 1
CFL ENTERS 18TH SEASON
This year marks the 18th Season of the
CFL. It’s hard to believe that what got
started in a dorm room in
SURVEY SAYS
The most recent CFL Survey asked the question “Do You
Agree With The 2003 CFL Award Winners?” Only three members voted, with two votes
being cast for “Yes, All 5”. The other
vote was cast for “Agree with 2 of 5”.
Be sure to vote in the next poll on Sportsline, “Which NFL Rookie Will Be The
First Player Selected In The 2004 CFL Draft?”
CURRENT FINANCIAL STATUS
Tourette’s Titans - CREDITS: None
Sundogs - CREDITS: $1
The Mighty Mudhens - CREDITS:
$150
The Paladins - CREDITS:
$15
Hurlin’ Dicks - CREDITS: $5
Big Blue Spam - CREDITS: None
The Express - CREDITS: None
Men Without Buckets - CREDITS: $10
RESULTS FROM
OFF-SEASON VOTING
All the votes were tallied this week and here are the
final results.
PROPOSAL #1. Change the Taxi-Squad from 4 players with one
veteran to only 3 players. Only rookies
can be placed on the taxi-squad. The
taxi-squad can never exceed 3 rookie players for any reason. However, if we decided to keep the House
Taxi-Squad rule (see #2 below) for in-season placement of injured players on
taxi-squad will still exist. But, if the
taxi-squad is already full, then a player must be released from taxi-squad
before the “House” player can be added.
This will take effect on April 1, 2004:
10
Teams voted to Reduce the Taxi-Squad to 3 players
(rookies only)
2 Teams voted to Keep the Taxi-Squad at 4 players
(with veteran optional)
As a result starting with the April 1st
Roster submissions, Taxi-Squads cannot exceed 3 players at anytime. For the
PROPOSAL #2. Eliminate the House Taxi-Squad rule for in-season
placement of injured players on taxi-squad.
If a player on your team is placed on injured reserve, either carry him
or cut him. This would take effect in
September, 2004.:
4 Teams voted to Eliminate the House Taxi-Squad
Rule
8 Teams voted to Keep the House Taxi-Squad Rule
As a result starting the “House Taxi-Squad Rule” will
remain in effect during the upcoming season.
However, at no time can a team’s Taxi-Squad exceed three players, so if
you’ve already got three people on your taxi-squad and want to place a “House”
player on the Taxi-Squad during the season, then one of those three players
must be released or activated (cost for activation is $5).
PROPOSAL #3. If an owner wishes to activate a taxi-squad player
during the season, they no longer have to drop a player at the same position as
the position of the player being activated:
12 Teams voted to Change the rule so that you can release any position
player
0 Teams voted to keep the rule unchanged, i.e. you must release someone
from the same position
As a result, starting this fall, a player from any
position can be released when activating a taxi-squad player.
PROPOSAL #4. Charge $10 for all Taxi-Squad moves. This will make owners seriously consider
investing in their players and may add marginal talent for free-agency. This will take effect on April 1, 2004:
4 Teams voted to Charge $10 for all Taxi-Squad Moves
8 Teams voted to Keep the charge for Taxi-Squad
moves at $5
As a result, the Taxi-Squad fee will remain at $5.
PROPOSAL #5. Combine the rushing and receiving yards for purposes
of calculating players’ points (as opposed to keeping them separate today):
7 Teams voted to Combine rushing & receiving
yards for scoring
5 Teams voted to Keep rushing & receiving
yards separate for scoring
As a result starting this season, we will combine
rushing and receiving yards when calculating a player’s weekly score. The 2003 Weekly Stats files have been updated
to reflect this change. The Past Year’s
Scoring file has been updated y for the 2003 Season only.
PROPOSAL #6. Penalize players 1 point for lost fumbles (similar
to what is done for interceptions today:
10 Teams voted to Penalize a player 1 point for
lost fumbles
2 Team voted to Not penalize for lost fumbles
As a result starting this season, the CFL scoring will
penalize a player 1 point for fumbles that result in a change of possession. The 2003 Weekly Stats files have been updated
to reflect this change. The Past Year’s
Scoring file has been updated for the 2003 Season only.
PROPOSAL #7. Allow starting line-up changes as long as the
player’s game hasn’t started. For
example, when Brett Favre’s father passed away, there
was question on whether or not he’d start the Monday Night Game. If Matt also had Doug Pederson as well, Matt
could have waited until right before the Monday Night Game to decide who his
starter would be:
9 Teams voted to Allow line-up changes right up
until kick-off of a player’s game
3 Teams voted to Keep the submission deadline @
12:55 PM Eastern on Sundays
As a result starting this season, teams will be
allowed to make line-up changes as long as a player’s game hasn’t started. A suggestion, though, is to make sure you set
a preliminary line-up before the
PROPOSAL #8. This one is multi-part (READ IN ITS ENTIRITY), but I
think can address some of the concerns raised during the season about owners
not signing free-agents to keep teams competitive (remember, the main goal of
the CFL is supposed to be fun, but if owners don’t keep their rosters
competitive then some of the fun is taken away):
a. Raise the League fee to $100, with $0 free-agent transactions during the
season (see b below for some limitations).
The extra $25 per team should cover a lot of the revenue generated by
free-agent signings today. It will also
eliminate the complaints of writing checks that are too small AND also not
penalize teams with losing records for keeping their roster competitive at the
end of the season.
b. Each team will be allowed 2 free-agent transactions each week at $0
cost. Any above that in a given week
will be charged $10. The higher amount
is designed to really limit the transaction per team at two each week.
c. To address competitive concerns:
i.
Owners will get 1 week grace on injured players starting (folks in the
league will need to help police this) – Additionally, I will send a league-wide
note to any teams starting known injured players the Tuesday morning following
that first week.
ii.
If it happens a second week, I will be granted authority to propose a
free-agent move (i.e. I propose who to add & drop) by kick-off of Week
3. I will send out another league-wide
e-mail on this the 2nd Tuesday morning.
iii.
If the owners doesn’t make a move
(either free-agent or trade) by kick-off of week #3, then I execute the
proposed trade. If by chance, the player
I’m proposing to add has already been signed by someone else, then I am granted
authority to replace the next best player available at that position.:
1 Team voted In favor of implementing ALL 3 (a, b, and c)
4 Teams voted In favor of a & b ONLY
2 Teams voted In favor of c ONLY
5 Teams voted Against implementing ALL 3 (a, b,
and c)
Without a majority of 6 votes, Nothing
will “officially” change from the current situation. However, teams should be cognizant of injury
reports and I will take a more active (and everyone else should as well) in
policing owners.
Draft Days
Of all possible dates, there was only one weekend upon
which every CFL Owner felt they could make the draft (some folks still had
uncertain vacation plans, but hopefully they can be flexible). Therefore, the 2004 CFL Draft will begin at
APRIL 1ST
DEADLINE APPROACHING
The April 1st deadline is the new date when
off-season rosters must be trimmed to 6 players and any taxi-squad players (up
to the maximum of 3) to be kept. All monies for taxi-squad players are also
due at that time. I’ve updated the off-season roster submission
form on the CFL website to serve this purpose.
The form can be found off the first link on the official CFL website:
http://home.att.net/~gharting/clyde/clyde.htm.